Torrential rains in Vratsa on Thursday claimed the life of a 25-year-old shepherd, Vratsa Mayor Nikolai Ivanov told bTV national channel. 

The man went missing on Thursday near the village of Tishevitsa and was found dead on Friday morning. 

This is the third victim of the floods in Bulgaria for this week, as earlier a 61-year-old woman and her 39-year-old son drowned in a village in the Gabrovo region.

The intensive rains in the Vratsa region lasted 12 hours and flooded ground floors, streets and fields. 

State of emergency has not been declared, unlike in the Rhodope municipality of the city of Plovdiv. 

There the Thursday torrential rains flooded streets, homes and demolished bridges. Several villages in the area – Hrabrino, Lilkovo, Plochnik, Izvor, Dedevo, Sitovo and Boykovo - have been cut off from the rest of the country.

Meanwhile, authorities recommend to avoid driving through the Iskar gorge, as landslides have blocked the road between the villages of Vlado Trichkov and Rebrovo.