Heavy rains have battered parts of Slovenia and Croatia close to the Adriatic Sea coast, causing floods and landslides, blocking roads and disrupting traffic.
Persistent rain in coastal Slovenia on Wednesday made the Dragonja river overflow its banks along the border with Croatia, blocking a key road in the area and forcing closure of a border crossing.
A landslide brought down trees in the area of the port town of Koper and flooded regional roads, while rising Adriatic Sea waters submerged parts of nearby Piran.
Authorities said more than 2,000 households have been left without power in the northwest, including the coastal town of Izola and remote mountain zones where wet snow and falling branches cut cables, disrupting power distribution.
In neighboring Croatia, bad weather kept ferries to and from the islands along the Adriatic Sea coastline in port, and triggered landslides and floods in the northern Istria peninsula.
An emergency official in Istria, Dino Kozlevac, said firefighters have had dozens of interventions as floods emerged throughout the peninsula, blocking roads and threatening homes and people, according to the HINA news agency.
Strong winds blowing along the coastline prompted the authorities to ban trucks with trailers from the main coastal road, as well as further inland where snow and fog slowed traffic.
{{/usCountry}}Strong winds blowing along the coastline prompted the authorities to ban trucks with trailers from the main coastal road, as well as further inland where snow and fog slowed traffic.
{{/usCountry}}Landslides are also blocking several other local roads, and road and public utility maintenance workers have been busy repairing road lighting, pulling out cars from water and flooded vessels.