This year is the most disastrous in Bulgaria in modern times, reports the bTV national channel.

Since the beginning of the year, floods in various parts of the country claimed 18 lives and inflicted damages for hundreds of millions of leva.

For the first 10 months of 2014 the emergency and rescue services responded to 600 crisis situations, caused by natural disasters, while for the entire 2013 their number was 70.

Between June and October each month there were several serious floods.

Meteorological statistics shows that in some parts of the country the precipitation within several hours equalled the expected normal amounts for three months.

At the same time the Civil Protection Agency and the fire rescue services insist on better preparation and more adequate reactions from the public.

“People were warned days in advance,” Georgi Gatev, head of the fire rescue service at the Civil Protection Agency told bTV, referring to last week's traffic problems due to the first snow and heavy rains. “Everyone knew bad weather was coming, but instead of staying home, people went travelling with summer tyres and got stuck.”

“In the context of climate change, frequency and intensity of extreme weather instances increases and people should be more careful,” Georgi Korchev of the Meteorology and Hydrology Institute said.

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