Two Dead in Bulgaria as Torrential Rain Causes Widespread Flooding

Heavy rain over 24 hours caused significant damage across Bulgaria, with officials on Friday confirming two deaths in the resort of Elenite, near the Black Sea city of Burgas.  In Burgas, roads were flooded and schools in some areas closed for the day, with nearby towns in the south also experiencing infrastructure damage.  “Although weather forecasts in recent days were pointing to imminent bad weather, Burgas and the region around the city unexpectedly woke up under water, with possibly a record amount of rainfall,” journalist Maya Stefanova from the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency told BIRN. “Material damage is significant, with vehicles now being taken away by the sea, while many people are simply blocked in their homes. In some places, the situation is calming down, but this is simply because the rains have stopped,” she added.  A state of emergency has been declared in the southern towns of Nesebar and Tsarevo, with evacuations taking place, while regional public transport is halted. Local authorities have pointed to the extreme level of rainfall – 400 litres of rain per square metre – in the area. On social media, some users posted videos of a tornado forming near Tsarevo.  Streets were underwater in the popular Black Sea resorts of Sunny Beach and Sveti Vlas, affecting businesses still working at the tail end of the tourist season. The same group of towns and villages on the southern part of the Black Sea coast also experienced destructive floods in September 2023. Transport services were affected in Plovdiv, Bulgaria’s second biggest city, while in the north of the country, heavy rain turned to snow and blocked mountain passes.  The government has been largely silent on plans to respond. However, Interior Minister Daniel Mitov was visiting Burgas on Friday and was expected to announce steps to tackle the crisis.