Flash floods and landslides in central Bosnia-Herzegovina have killed at least 19 people, cutting off towns and villages and submerging homes in some areas.
Some of the worst incidents occurred at Jablanica, a town on the main route between Mostar and Sarajevo, roughly 70 kilometres (40 miles) to the northeast.
Several other persons have been reported missing, and a state of emergency has been issued.
Vojin Mijatovic, the development minister, said the country had suffered a terrible calamity and urged people to remain calm.
Following an overnight downpour, rivers burst their banks, flooding many towns and villages, according to overhead pictures.
Roads, bridges, and railway tracks were washed away or blocked by debris, while landslides buried houses in rocks and earth up to their top floors.
The important M-17 road, which runs alongside the River Neretva near Jablanica, was littered with debris, and a 17-kilometre stretch of railway between adjacent Ostrozac and Grabovica to the west was severely damaged.
A landslip along the river south of Jablanica left a 200-meter stretch of rail hanging in the air.
The local government in Herzegovina-Neretva Canton advised drivers to avoid risky routes near Jablanica.
Further east along the Neretva river, one homeowner informed Bosnian media that water filled their house around 03:30 on Friday, and they just managed to save their son before fleeing to neighbours and witnessing their house fall.
Meanwhile, 20 kilometres to the west of the capital, near Kiseljak, a torrent of water swamped the streets, submerging cars.
The floods were not limited to Bosnia. In neighbouring Montenegro, highways were washed away, cutting off Komarnica.
Water levels were also rising in some of Croatia’s waterways, and the authorities in Zagreb warned that some neighbourhoods of Karlovac could be flooded along the Kupa River.
Floods wreaked havoc across Central Europe last month, with Poland, the Czech Republic, and Romania suffering the worst. Scientists from the World Weather Attribution (WWA) group said that one four-day stretch was the wettest ever recorded in the region.
