Flooding, Outages Add to Problems Facing Serbs

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia —  Serbs struggling to put their lives back together after NATO bombing were confronted with new troubles Saturday: flooding that forced some to flee their homes and left parts of the capital without power or drinking water.

A tropical-like downpour began Friday evening and continued for more than 18 hours, forcing people out of their homes from Belgrade south to central Serbia around the cities of Kragujevac and Cacak. The storms wreaked havoc with railway and road traffic throughout Serbia and even set off an air raid siren in one town, causing panic among residents who thought NATO bombing had resumed.

At least one death was reported and 10 people were missing, the private Beta news agency said. A 60-year-old man drowned late Friday in the swollen Lugomir River while trying to rescue his cattle near Jagodina, 60 miles southeast of Belgrade, Beta reported.

“This must be a punishment from God. First NATO nearly destroyed everything I had, then this. . . . Could it be worse?” said Petko Budimir, 40, whose rented house was flooded. His previous home was nearly destroyed when NATO bombed Belgrade’s Strazevica suburb. The area was a frequent target during NATO’s 78-day air campaign against Yugoslavia.

Rescuers used inflatable boats to evacuate residents from several buildings in another Belgrade suburb, Rakovica. Debris was strewn across streets as residents struggled to build a sandbag barrier.

Some parts of Belgrade were without drinking water and electricity, the Politika TV station reported Saturday. The capital’s main emergency hospital was flooded, and health workers issued a plea that only emergency patients be brought in.

About 5,000 people had to be evacuated from flooded homes in Smederevska Palanka, 37 miles southeast of Belgrade, Beta said. The town was without drinking water and electricity Saturday.

A train traveling from Belgrade to the Bulgarian capital, Sofia, was blocked overnight in a Belgrade suburb after flooding wrecked a stretch of track.

As heavy rains continued Saturday in Serbia, Beta said the main highway from Belgrade to Nis in southeastern Serbia was blocked near the town of Jagodina by a landslide. High water cut a rail line in the area, where a state of emergency was declared, Beta said.