New devastating Balkan floods

Torrential rain in the western Serbian town of Banja Koviljaca led to a 65-year-old man's drowning after his house flooded, the Beta news agency reported on Wednesday, quoting local police. The waters also damaged several local roads, as well as dozens of houses and a hospital, the agency reported. In neighboring Bosnia (pictured), hundreds of households flooded in several regions, mostly the same ones hit in May.

"Streams and rivers have very quickly turned into torrents which carried all in front of them," a member of the civil protection center told Bosnian national television on Wednesday.

Police said one person remained missing in Banja Luka, where authorities declared a state of emergency. In the region of Gracanica, near Tuzla, authorities evacuated about 200 homes in several affected villages.

In the northern village of Donji Hrgovi, homes had flooded within a few minutes overnight Tuesday. Residents escaped before the roads and bridges became impassable.

The floods have also hit Croatia, albeit to a lesser extent.

No reprieve

Flooding in Balkans triggers landslides, disturbs minefields:In May#, the Balkans saw their worst floods in over a century, affecting almost 2 million people in Serbia, Bosnia and Croatia. The flooding washed into 40 percent of Bosnia, wrecking the main agriculture industry, wiping out infrastructure and forcing almost a quarter of the population of 4 million to leave their homes.

Hundreds of thousands of people evacuated, and many of them ended up homeless. More than 50 people died, mostly in Serbia and Bosnia.

Forecasters say this time around the rain will continue to fall until at least Thursday.

mkg/dr (AFP, AP)