The Serbian capital Belgrade is braced for a river water surge that threatens to inundate the country’s main power plant and cause major power cuts, as the Balkans continue to struggle with the consequences of the worst flooding in south-eastern Europe in more than a century.

Floodwaters triggered more than 2,000 landslides across much of the Balkans yesterday, laying waste to entire towns and villages and disturbing land mines left over from the region’s 1990s war.

Record flooding in the Balkans has left least 20 people dead in Serbia and Bosnia and is forcing tens of thousands to flee their homes, authorities said.