HEAVY rainfalls flooded central Bulgaria on September 19-20, leaving two dead, inundating hundreds of private homes and damaging infrastructure. 

Tatiana Petkova, 85, of Dalgo Pole in Plovdiv region, was crushed by her house while sleeping. Another elderly victim in nearby Trud village died from a heart attack. 

In Dalgo Pole, 200 families were evacuated from their homes and placed in local schools, while 20 houses were completely demolished and 150 damaged by floods. Close to 100 houses were flooded and a total of 2000 homes were damaged in Trud.  

Floods had drowned most of the village's farm animals, Trud mayor Zaprian Dachev said on September 20. 

The State Agency for Civil Protection (SACP) supplied people with clothing, blankets and had provided technical units for handling the crisis, the SACP said. 

The regions of Plovdiv, Stara Zagora, Gabrovo, Veliko Turnovo, Sliven and Yambol were among the most badly damaged by floods. A state of emergency had been declared in Elin Pelin, Svoge, Velingrad and Sarnitsa municipalities.

Seven villages still had problems with electricity supply, but restoration was continuing, the SACP said. 

A part of the Plovdiv-Karlovo railway line was  flooded and passengers were transported on busses provided by the State Railway Company (BDZ).

Floods blocked Plovdiv for several hours on September 19.

Ihtiman, a city badly damaged by the previous floods this summer, was flooded again. The worst damage was in Roma-populated areas where a lack of proper drainage pipes caused flooding in the streets.

Gabrovo was flooded when the Yantra River level rose by three metres. In Veliko Turnovo, the Yantra reached the critical level of six metres. The river overflowed in low areas.

Two dams in the Stambolijski and Jovkovtsi regions had overflowed since Tuesday, the SACP said. 

The situation in Sarnevo village in Stara Zagora municipality remained critical, said the executive of the local branch of the SACP, Vesselin Kouzmanov. Close to 200 households had been flooded and 72 people, half of them children, were forced to spend Tuesday night in a local school.  

In Sliven, heavy rainfall caused flooding in Zlati Voevoda village.

Most of the streets in Karlovo and Kalofer had been recovering from summer floods, but were damaged again when debris was cleared from the bank of the Stara Reka River. 

President Georgi Purvanov visited damaged areas on September 20.

In Roman municipality, he said the establishment of a national civil guard would help local authorities in a crisis. Army officials proposed restoration work after the floods in August.

"Such a guard would act only as a civilian structure and would not be authorised to interfere in domestic conflicts," Purvanov said. "The army has proven that it could help our citizens in times of crisis, but if we want this to continue the issue with financing must be solved very quickly." 

He was referring to a statement by General Nikola Kolev, Bulgarian Armed Forces Chief, on September 19. He said that the army would stop restoration on September 21 if the Government did not reimburse funds the army had already spent.

So far the army had spent 600 000 leva, which was not part of the army budget and for which it should be compensated, Kolev said. Purvanov said that Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev had reassured him that the army would be compensated for spent funds.

The army had started its Phoenix Rescue Operation to aid flood-hit areas on Purvanov's request.

In response to Kolev, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Disaster Management Emel Etem said on Tuesday that the army would be compensated only if it signed contracts with damaged municipalities for work that had been done.

"That's the only legal way that we can restore army funds," Etem said. "We would pay mayors and they would pay the army."  

Purvanov also raised the issue of adopting a bill for regulating infrastructure and land around water facilities. He said that among the main reasons for floods was the poor maintenance of water facilities.

More Government funding was required, he said. "There should be 20 times more funds allocated by the Government for flood-hit areas this summer," he said during his visit to Roman. 

This is the fourth wave of large flood damages in the country this year. The total cost from the first three waves was estimated at about 511 million euro or about 2.4 per cent of the projected gross domestic product (GDP) for the year.

Foreign help continues to arrive. The Chinese embassy in Sofia donated $10 000 to the Bulgarian Red Cross. On September 20, Etem and Russian ambassador Anatoly Potapov discussed the flood situation in Bulgaria and future Russian humanitarian aid.

On September 19, the Media Campaign "To foresee the future", which is aimed at helping people obtain property insurance.

Ilina Dikova, managing director of I-V Commerce LTD, initiated the campaign.

She said she wanted to encourage Bulgarians to insure property against natural disasters.