Terrifying Torrential rains in Slovenia cause severe damage*

09/20/2007 15:29     Source: AP ©    

Slovenian government will be forced to seek European Union aid  to cope
with floods.

Janez Jansa, who toured the northern region ravaged by the storm
Tuesday, said the damage - estimated at 200 EUR million (US$276 million)
- "exceeds budget reserves" and other financial aid earmarked for relief.

He said the government would seek aid from EU's Solidarity Fund for the
first time, the state-run news agency STA reported.

Slovenia is a prosperous market economy, whose 4-percent economic growth
exceeds the EU average - making it a contributor rather than recipient
of EU funds.

The government will also aid regional companies in amounts allowed by
the EU rules, Jansa said.

Earlier in the day, authorities said they have recovered two more
bodies, raising the death toll from the Tuesday's floods to six.

The two new victims were from Zelezniki, a village of 3,000 people in a
narrow valley in northwestern Slovenia, and the hardest hit town in the
storm. One body was found in a local factory late Wednesday; another
near her house, said local police spokesman, Zdenko Guzzi.

Authorities had previously identified four victims of the floods in two
other towns.

The floods damaged hundreds of houses, swept away bridges and cars and
buried a World War II clinic that was later turned into a national monument.

Two villages remain cut off from outside help, as a bridge and a road
leading to them have been washed away. Authorities have organized
helicopters to drop food and other necessities to the residents.

Slovenia's largest insurer, Triglav, said it expected about 5,000 claims
and a record payout for damages, totaling around 20 million EUR(US$28
million).