SKOPJE: on Sunday, Macedonia declared a state of emergency in the capital Skopje and neighboring districts after 21 were killed in flash floods caused by a storm.
Late on Saturday evening, heavy rain flooded homes and swept away section of the ring road around Skopje and broken down cars. Northern border and center of the city hard hit with flash floods.
Police spokesman said, six people were reporting missing and those who killed among them were Children.
Macedonia, is a small former Yugoslav republic city of about two million people declared a day of national mourning on Monday.
Deputy Prime Minister Nikola Todorov told reporters, “This is a catastrophe of unprecedented magnitude,”
Special police forces were settled and trucks loaded with drinking water were sent to the worst affected areas, scattered debris of furniture swept away and can be seen on road in some electricity outages also seen, a Reuters reporter said.
The rain had stopped by Sunday morning and water level gets decreasing, there was some more rain on Sunday evening in Skopje but no reporters of further flash flooding.
European Union Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn said on Twitter that the EU stood ready to help Macedonia, which is a candidate to join the union.
Local media said heavy winds in the Balkans, in Croatia causes disruption on some roads, which causes closure of the highway linking the capital Zagreb to southern coast for lorries and buses.###
