Officials urge people in Slovenia to stay home after torrential rain, floods

LJUBLJANA, Slovenia – Torrential rains and heavy floods ravaged Slovenia on Friday, killing at least three people, cutting off roads and bridges and surging into buildings.

The Slovenian environmental agency raised the weather alert to the highest level after a month’s amount of rain fell within 24 hours in the northern, northwestern and central parts of the small European country.

As rain continued to fall Friday, authorities warned of more floods in other areas because of swiftly swelling rivers.

Authorities ordered evacuations of several thousand people in parts of the town of Celje along the surging Savinja River, including the old town area. Upstream in the town of Ljubno, the same river swept away houses and caused landslides.

Local authorities asked the Austrian government to stand ready to provide hospital care for Slovenians, if needed. The main hospital in Slovenia’s capital, Ljubljana, said it was operating in alert mode and told people only to come in for urgent reasons.