Novinite's team is publishing brief daily comments about major events that have taken place in Bulgaria and abroad this year.

Floods wreaked havoc across Bulgaria in 2014.

Fourteen people including children lost their lives in northeastern Bulgaria this year with plugged drainage systems and illegal logging exacerbating the impact of torrential rains and overflowing dams.

Hundreds of people were evacuated and many were left homeless but most of them refused to move to temporary dwellings provided by municipal authorities. Flood damage was estimated at hundreds of millions of levs.

The town of Mizia, in northwestern Bulgaria, was swamped by waves two metres high after the Skat river overflowed in early August. According to local residents, the disaster was caused by ill-controlled  letting of water out of dams as well as human error. A man and a woman lost their lives then, more than 100 houses were destroyed and over 800 people were evacuated by boats and helicopters.

One-off state aid of BGN 325 per person was granted to the people hit by the floods. It is still unclear whether the disaster was caused by human error or torrential rains were the only factor to blame.

The Black Sea resort of Albena also was swamped by excessive rainfall and two Cougar helicopters were called in to save people trapped by swollen rivers in the area. 

A day of mourning was declared in the Black Sea city of Burgas in September after an overflowing river washed three people away into the sea. A state of disaster was declared in the cities of Burgas, Haskovo and Stara Zagora . The camping sites Gradina and Smokinya were razed to the ground.

The final months of the year brought water disaster to southern Bulgaria with soaked fields unable to absorb any more water coming from overflowing rivers and dams. Villages and towns along the Tundzha river saw their streets and houses inundated but there was no loss of human life this time.

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