Flood-prone areas avoid worst-case scenarios
Ljubljana, 3 November - Rain that has been falling all night has not led to worst-case scenarios in at-risk areas across the country for now. Certain rivers are flooding and some roads are closed due to floods and landslides. Rain is still coming down in some areas.
Bohinjska Bistrica
The Sava Bohinjka bursts its banks.
Photo: Daniel Novakovič/STA
Ribčev Laz
Lake Bohinj swollen after heavy rain.
Photo: Daniel Novakovič/STA
Kranj
The Sava river swollen after heavy rain.
Photo: Daniel Novakovič/STA
Tolmin
The Soča river spills over near Tolmin.
Photo: Primorski Val/STA
Bursting their banks have been rivers in the upper Posočje region and in the Sava Bohinjka and Sava Dolinka river basins in the north-west as well as the upper reaches of the Sava, the Tržaška Bistrica near Tržič, also in the north-west, and the Reka near Ilirska Bistrica in the south-west. Several others are swelling and are expected to follow suit.
Strong winds have caused some damage in certain areas, but nothing major, and the sea flooded as well, but what caused more damage in the coastal town of Izola was stormwater. The situation stabilised in the early hours of Friday.
The port of Koper is open to traffic again after it was temporarily closed yesterday due to strong winds.
Worst-case scenarios did not materialise, including in Baška Grapa in the north-west, a narrow valley recently hit by severe floods and landslides, where the night passed without any major problems.
After a night of red- and orange-coded alerts, a yellow alert has been put in place for the whole of country, the only exception being the Drava river basin, which is under red flood alert.
In Dravograd and Vuzenica, two towns located by the river in the north of the country, sirens sounded this morning alerting people to flood danger.
The flow of the Drava at 7:40am was 1,280 m3/s at the Dravograd hydroelectric power plant and 1,521 m3/s at the Vuzenica plant, the Slovenj Gradec emergency services said.
It is expected that the flow will reach 1,800 m3/s later in the morning causing large-scale flooding, the Environment Agency warned earlier.
More than 60 firefighting units were active during the night, and at least 117 incidents were recorded across the country.
In the past 24 hours, the biggest amount of rainfall fell in the Julian Alps area. At a rain gauge station on Mount Vogel, which overlooks Lake Bohinj, 234 l/m2 fell.
Bovec, a town famous for Soča river-centred tourism, recorded 228 l/m2, and the Kanin ski resort was hit by 208 l/m2.
Rain has started to let up. "There will be some precipitation occasionally, but we don't expect really heavy downpours," meteorologist Brane Gregorčič told the STA.
Hydrologist Andrej Golob warned that when it comes to flood risks, the Sava river basin is out of danger, but all eyes will now be on the Drava basin.