The authorities in the Bosnian city of Banja Luka have declared a state of emergency due to heavy rains that have caused floods and landslides, Dragan Babic, head of the city’s civil protection unit, said in a statement on March 31.

Over the weekend, northern parts of Bosnia & Herzegovina were hit by heavy rains with the level of several rivers rising significantly and flooding areas, as the annual disaster season gets underway. That triggered the activation of the EU’s Copernicus Emergency Service.

Babic said that there were widespread landslides across the city and emergency teams are struggling to deal with them as over 130 reports of landslides and soil erosion have been received. He added that ten teams have been formed to assess the damage.

“So far, we have not received any reports of structural damage to buildings,” Babic said.

However, auxiliary buildings, garages and yards have been flooded, without significant damage.

Earlier in March a state of emergency was declared in 16 areas around Banja Luka.

The situation as of March 30 was critical in Prijedor, where a state of emergency was declared.

The Sana River overflowed on a part of the Prijedor-Sanski Most main road, also reaching critical points in the towns of Raskovac, Puharska, Gomjenica and Tukovi. The water level rose by 220cm in just 24 hours and the authorities declared the first level of flood protection.

Una-Sana Canton was also badly hit, according to the local civil protection service, with water levels reaching or exceeding critical points. The authorities took extraordinary protection measures.

As of March 30, the Una River was close to the 100cm critical point in Bihac, while in the town of Ripac it exceeded that level, reaching 180cm. Local authorities distributed sandbags aimed at stopping the floods.

Bosnia has been repeatedly affected by flooding. In 2024, the negative effect of the floods in the fourth quarter of the year are expected to drag down the GDP growth figure for the year to 2.5%, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said in February.