Balkans flooding spurs 2,100 landslides

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.

The Balkans’ worst flooding since record-keeping began forced tens of thousands of people from their homes and threatened to inundate Serbia’s main power plant, which supplies electricity to a third of the country and most of Belgrade.

Authorities organised a frenzied helicopter airlift to get terrified families to safety before the water swallowed up their homes. Many were plucked from rooftops.