Mayor of the central Bosnian town of Zenica, Fuad Kasumovic, announced on Sunday that the city would file a lawsuit against a local steel mill owned by the global steel company ArcelorMittal for contributing to the floods that hit the town and surrounding areas.

On Sunday, Zenica declared disaster measures after the area was hit with flooding caused by heavy rains and melting snow over the weekend.

According to mayor Kasumovic, the local steel mill ArcelorMittal Zenica contributed to the flooding in the Tetovo suburban area on town, as the mill is in charge of maintenance of a nearby canal which could not handle all the incoming flood water.

“We declared a natural disaster. I have been on the ground for seven hours, I’m visiting all the locations. The damage was caused by the inaction of (Arcelor) Mittal, because there is a canal that they are supposed to maintain. Unfortunately, over two metres of mud had accumulated there, and the canal is now spilling back everything that led to the flooding of local houses,” Kasumovic told reporters.

In 2004 the global steel giant ArcelorMittal acquired a steel manufacturing plant in Zenica. With some 2,400 workers, the plant is a major employer in this heavily industrialised town, making hot rolled products mainly for the markets in the Balkans, the European Union and north Africa.

“The city’s public attorney will be tasked to draw up a lawsuit tomorrow, and prior to that, a city commission will visit the area to assess the damage after the flooding recedes… and we will sue (Arcelor) Mittal, you can be sure about that,” he added.

Central Bosnia struggles with flooding over the weekend

Local authorities in the towns of Zenica and Busovaca declared a state of emergency on Sunday after a number of villages in the area were hit by flooding.

The floods caused serious damage on local roads and residential areas, Kasumovic said.

“Zenica has four drainage basins, and each of those locations today is facing serious problems. Some 20 houses were flooded at one of those locations, at Tetovo,” mayor Kasumovic told N1, explaining that the floods were caused by unusually heavy rainfall and melting snow.

Elsewhere, the town of Busovaca was cut off from the nearby town of Kiseljak after local roads had been closed due to flooding. In Vitez, another town in central Bosnia, water supply was cut due to a landslide near the water supply system, and several more landslides threatened two villages.

In the Gornji Vakuf-Uskoplje municipality, a landslide demolished a house and threatened other homes in reasidential areas, local news websites reported.

Residents of villages in central Bosnian municipalities of Travnik, Novi Travnik, Bugojno, and Fojnica also faced damage caused by floods.

The Federation’s Civil Protection Administration said on Sunday that the most heavily affected areas were in the municipalities of Hadzici and Busovaca, and that they dispatched disaster relief teams to these areas.

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