The rising levels of a number of rivers because of the torrential rains have caused floods in a number of towns and villages around Southwestern Bulgaria.

The Mayor of the city of Pernik, 30 km to the southwest of Sofia, Rositsa Yanakieva has declared a partial emergency situation because of the rising level of the Struma River.

The river flooded two spots in the city flooding and closing the main inner-city road. The level of the water in the flooded sections is 1.5 meters. The public transport depot is also under water.

The city authorities and the Civil Protection Service are ready to evacuate some of the residents living in the threatened sections.

Three kids were saved from drowning in a nearby village. Several villages in the nearby Radomir Municipality have been flooded, with some of their residents mobilized voluntarily to dig ditches and build dikes under the command of the Civil Protection Service. Close to 100 homes have been flooded in the region as well as 50 ha of land planted with wheat.

The Dzherman River has flooded another southwestern town, Dupnitsa. All bridges have been closed and access is restricted by the police. Several homes have been flooded.

The Governor of the Sofia District has announced that local people are helping build dikes with sand bags. This is believed to be the highest level of the Dzherman River in 30 years.

The level of the rivers Bistritsa and Banshtitsa in the Kyustendil District is also raising even though no floods have been caused there yet.

As Southwestern Bulgaria is a mountainous region, the authorities have warned the people to watch out for mudslides.

With the exception of the Struma River, all other rivers in the region are considered to be small but the torrential rains in the past two days have increased their levels dramatically.

The small rivers flowing through Sofia have not caused outright floods yet but their levels are also rising. The rain, however, flooded a large section of the southern part of the Sofia Beltway disrupting the overall car traffic in the capital as the traffic police had to restrict the access to the area and redirect much of the traffic.

Large amounts of water are just flowing down the slopes of the Vitosha Mountain and flooding the major road. Mayor Fandakova has declared that the situation is under control as the rain has started to recede.

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