SOFIA - Raging floods in Bulgaria have killed seven people and caused at least $200 million in damage to houses, farmland and infrastructure over the past week, the Balkan state's government said on Tuesday.
The floods, caused by several days of exceptionally heavy rain, added to extensive destruction caused by storms earlier this summer that killed 17 people and led to at least another $250 million in damage.
On Tuesday, workers recovered the bodies of two victims who drowned a day earlier near the central Bulgarian town of Plovdiv, adding to five other fatalities over the weekend when nearly 10,000 Bulgarians were forced to flee their homes.
A preliminary estimate by Finance Minister Milen Velchev put the latest damage at 237 million levs ($150 million), plus another 100 million levs for damaged roads and bridges.
The floods destroyed 49 kilometres (30 miles) of railway, mainly in the east of the country, halting traffic between Sofia and the country's two other largest cities, Plovdiv and Varna, a spokeswoman from the state railway company said.
Traffic has yet to resume and some Bulgarian firms, such as steelmaker Kremikovtzi, have complained they are having trouble receiving supplies. But officials said the situation was gradually returning to normal.
Heavy storms have lashed the Balkan peninsula since the start of summer, killing dozens of people and leaving thousands homeless in Bulgaria and its neighbour Romania -- both of which are hoping to join the EU in 2007.
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
