Pictures from a Serbian Town Underwater

Last week when I was researching a story on migration, I found myself in Obrenovac, a Serbian town some 18 miles southwest of central Belgrade, and it looked more like a lake than a town.

Serbia, Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina are experiencing some of the worst floods in more than a century. At least 25 people are dead and many more are missing, while hundreds of households are suffering from severe damage and thousands have been evacuated. There is no power in a lot of places. When asking for foreing aid, Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said it was “the biggest catastrophe in the history of Serbia.”

Everything was submerged and most parts of the city were inaccessible. The Serbian army and police were desperately trying to control the situation, using boats to rescue trapped citizens. They would save the helicopters for people whom they thought would be impossible to reach otherwise.

Just before I left, I saw people arguing with policemen, who were trying to stop them from returning to their flooded homes to save whatever they could.