The Croatian Army will stay as long as necessary in the parts of Vukovar-Srijem County that were affected by severe thunderstorms this week, Defence Minister Mario Banozic said on Saturday while visiting troops in Cerna near Zupanja who are helping to deal with the aftermath.

He said 250 troops were currently doing that in three Vukovar-Srijem County municipalities and one town.

“We are trying to help both citizens and members of other services, firefighters, Croatian Forests workers, members of the police and Civil Protection and others,” Banozic said.

The army has participated in helping the areas in the Slavonia region affected by the severe storms from day one, he added. “That day 140 were deployed and today another 250.”

Of Cerna’s 1,350 households, only a few homes have been undamaged, said municipal head Josip Storek.

The priority is repairing roofs and dealing with electricity problems, given that some households have been without it for four days now, he added.

Also today, the City of Zagreb said it had received over 2,000 reports of damage sustained in this week’s two severe thunderstorms thus far, and that all available manpower was dealing with the extensive damage.