Bulgaria's southern Black Sea coast is recovering from the flooding

The southern Black Sea coast has begun the battle to recover from the floods. Military are involved in the clean-up of the flood-affected areas.

The road from Sinemorets to Ahtopol is open. Construction of the temporary bridge between Tsarevo and Ahtopol is expected to start today, September 7.

Floods at Bulgaria's Southern Black Sea coast: Within two days, metal bridge will be built on the main road between Tsarevo and Ahtopol

Over 4,000 tourists have been affected by the flooding. It is yet to be analysed whether human negligence has increased the scale of the disaster.

After the meeting of the crisis management team it became clear that the situation in Tsarevo is now back to normal. However, Ministry of Interior teams are helping tourists to get home from critical places. Damage assessment has also started in flood-damaged properties and facilities - part of the infrastructure where urgent repairs are needed.

There are no people in distress in the territory of Tsarevo municipality.

Social workers have started inspections in properties as part of the process for assessment for the purposes of one-off financial assistance.

The controlled release of the two dams in the Tsarevo area, where the walls are compromised, is continuing. As of today, military personnel have also joined the efforts to help – some of them are a team of engineers who will be involved in building new facilities.

"I will personally report to the Prime Minister about the size of the damages because the state needs to know what it has to help our municipality with. The damage is huge, but we are slowly starting to recover. In 24 hours we have managed to return the normal rhythm of life in Tsarevo municipality, villages are no longer cut off, all accesses have been secured, there is accessibility to every village, the power supply has been restored, the water supply has been restored. Today, water should not be used for drinking purposes," said Georgi Lapchev, mayor of Tsarevo municipality.

Authorities recommend that the water not be used for drinking purposes, and that people should not go in the sea because of pollution after the disaster. Teams of volunteers are distributing bottled water for drinking.

Death toll from the fierce flooding at Bulgaria’s southern Black Sea coast rises to 4