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Slovenia Appeals For Help After Deadly Floods

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

LJUBLJANA (Worthy News) – Slovenia on Sunday appealed for aid from the European Union and NATO military alliance after weekend flooding killed at least three people and caused damage estimated at over half a billion euros ($550 million).

The tiny nation, which declared its independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, suffered a month’s worth of rain in less than 24 hours on Friday, the national weather service noted.

Slovenia’s Prime Minister Robert Golob said roads, bridges, and buildings were destroyed in “the greatest damages by natural disasters in the history of independent Slovenia.”

Two-thirds of the territory in the southern Central European country, home to two million people, were affected, the prime minister explained.

Among those who died were two Dutch climbers on Friday in the mountains near Kranj, presumably as a result of being struck by lightning, Slovenian authorities said.

Also on Friday, a woman died due to flooding in the town of Kamnik, 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) north of the capital, Ljubljana, Slovenian media reported.

The EU’s executive European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen assured Slovenia of the bloc’s help. The damage in Slovenia was “heartbreaking,” she stressed.

In Dravograd, near the border with Austria, 110 people, including 30 tourists, had to be brought to safety after a landslide Saturday, officials said.

The town, which lies at the confluence of three rivers – Drava, Meze, and Mislinje – was at risk of another landslide.

It comes amid severe weather patterns across Europe ranging from heatwaves to rainy and stormy weather. There is debate within the scientific community on whether the phenomenon is caused by human-caused climate change. While many claim that to be the case, several experts suggest such changes have occurred throughout the centuries.