Disaster situation also in Gorna Oryahovitsa

The municipality of Gorna Oryahovitsa has declared a disaster due to clogged bridges to republican roads and overflowing of the Yantra River, regional governor Marin Bogomilov told the Bulgarian National Radio.

Many people whose properties were flooded have been evacuated in Veliko Tarnovo and Debelets. Several villages in Veliko Tarnovo have also been affected. No people have been injured, said Mayor Daniel Panov.

There are no overflowed or released dams that caused the disaster in the Veliko Tarnovo and Gabrovo regions, Commissioner Nikolay Nikolov, advisor to the Minister of Interior, who came to the scene in Veliko Tarnovo to see the situation, told the public radio.

The situation in Veliko Tarnovo remains the most serious. Many houses are flooded. People are preparing to evacuate.

The entire courtyard of the Historical Church of the "Holy 40 Martyrs" is flooded, but the water has not entered the church.

In the most affected neighborhood "Assenov", there are teams of the police, fire department, ambulances, and military who are helping people. The good news is that there is no damage to the tents and animals in the meadows near the Peter and Paul Monastery near Lyaskovets, where the National Sheep Breeders' Festival is being held.

The situation in the Lovech region is complicated. River levels have risen significantly and in places there are spills.

The most critical situation is in the town of Apriltsi, where a ceremonial flood check is planned for tonight, Deputy Mayor Krasimir Kolev announced.

"The situation is dangerous, so to speak, because the rivers have risen - both the Otstreshka River and the Vidima River were at 06:00, in places they came out of their beds. There were several flooded houses, we evacuated an elderly woman whose water had reached her armpits, and we managed to get her out. Now we are already looking everywhere at the lower points where the houses are located and all the people from Apriltsi are helping each other together and we are going around the territory of the town and the municipality, it is large and we need to see all the key points, because the water is carrying huge rocks. It needs to stop raining up there. That's all we are praying for. We are visiting the residents in low-lying areas to provide them with assistance," Kolev explained to Bulgarian National Radio.

At the moment, there is no information about injured or threatened people.

"At the moment, we have no information about injured people, as I said, we evacuated an elderly woman living alone, we took her to the home for the elderly, where they could dress her, where they could warm her, because she was simply holding on to her table and waiting for rescue," said Apriltsi Deputy Mayor Krasimir Kolev.