Water levels of rivers in Bulgaria will begin to rise Wednesday night, substantially at a number of locations.

The alert was issued Tuesday by the country's Ministry of Environment and Waters (MOSV) based on information from the National Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, BAS, for expected heavy rains, accompanied by thunderstorms.

Local floods are possible in the next two or three days as a result of the expected downpours. The spills are most likely to occur in the northern part of the country along the rivers Ogosta, Iskar, Osam, Vit, Rositsa, and Yantra as well as along the Struma river and the tributaries of the Maritsa River in its upper course - the rivers Chepinska, Topolnitsa and Vacha.

According to the forecast, the greatest risk of spills exists in the river valleys of Osam, Rositsa and Yantra.

The Environment Ministry has sent a warning to the operational units - Civil Defense, Irrigation Systems" the Bulgarian Energy Holding, BEH, and to local governors.