Balkans Struck by Worst Flooding in 120 Years

Over the past three days, three months' worth of rain has fallen on the Balkan region, producing the worst floods since rainfall measurements began 120 years ago. The flooding has affected huge parts of Serbia, and more than a quarter of Bosnia's 4 million people: The Bosnian government is warning of "terrifying" destruction comparable to the country's 1992-95 war. At least 40 people have died in the region, and tens of thousands of others have fled their homes, packing into buses, boats, and helicopters - many of them farmers leaving their livestock behind. There's an additional hazard: leftover land mines. Floodwater has disturbed known minefields and damaged some markers that had been placed there to warn people away.

Read more
Hints: View this page full screen. Skip to the next and previous photo by typing j/k or ←/→.

Most Recent

  • Xinyu Cui / Getty
    • In Focus
    • Sep 20, 2019
    • 35 Photos

    Photos of the Week: Giant Penguin, Forest Tower, Glacier Battlefield

    A hydrofoil water taxi in Paris, the Rugby World Cup in Japan, a cyclocross challenge in England, Independence Day celebrations in Mexico, protests in Ecuador and Honduras, a whale rescue in Argentina, and much more.

  • Joe Raedle / Getty
    • In Focus
    • Sep 18, 2019
    • 28 Photos

    The Impact of Climate Change on Kivalina, Alaska

    The small village of Kivalina is threatened on several fronts by a warming Arctic climate, as the ground it sits on erodes, and the animals the villagers rely on become more difficult to hunt.

  • Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP / Getty
    • In Focus
    • Sep 17, 2019
    • 26 Photos

    Devastated by Dorian: Photos From the Bahamas

    Recent images of the hard-hit islands of the Abacos and Grand Bahama, as residents receive aid, recover what they can, and contemplate their next steps

  • Ulet Ifansasti / Getty
    • In Focus
    • Sep 16, 2019
    • 21 Photos

    Fires in Indonesia Blanket Islands and Cities in Smog

    Thick clouds of smoke and haze are blanketing much of Southeast Asia, due to largely illegal efforts to burn thousands of acres to clear land for farms and palm-oil plantations.

Most Popular on The Atlantic

  1. If This Isn’t Impeachable, Nothing Is
  2. Evangelical Has Lost Its Meaning
  3. Why Some People Become Lifelong Readers
  4. When the Culture War Comes for the Kids
  5. Spain’s Attempt to Atone for a 500-Year-Old Sin
  6. WeWork and the Great Unicorn Delusion
  7. Trump Is Not Well
  8. The First of the ‘Yale Women’
  9. The Milky Way Has Giant Bubbles at Its Center
  10. The Sweetly Subversive Marriage at the Core of Schitt’s Creek
Back to Top