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On the night of 24–25 July 2020, after 21:00 local time ( CEST, 19:00 
UTC Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the primary time standard globally used to regulate clocks and time. It establishes a reference for the current time, forming the basis for civil time and time zones. UTC facilitates international communica ...
),
Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...
,
Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...
, was struck by a storm which produced one of the worst
flash flood A flash flood is a rapid flooding of low-lying areas: washes, rivers, dry lakes and depressions. It may be caused by heavy rain associated with a severe thunderstorm, hurricane, or tropical storm, or by meltwater from ice and snow. Flash f ...
s in the city's history. An episode of intense rainfall dumped more than of rain within two hours. The torrential streams of the mountain overlying Zagreb surged and overwhelmed the city's combined sewer system, causing flooding. The effects were worst felt in the inner city, notably Ilica, Donji grad, and
Trnje Trnje () is a district in the City of Zagreb, Croatia. According to the 2011 census, the district had 42,282 residents. It is located in the central part of the city, south of Donji grad across the railway ( Zagreb Main Station), east of Trešn ...
, though many suburbs were also affected, including
Buzin Buzin may refer to: * Buzin, Zagreb, a village near Zagreb, Croatia * Buzin, Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, a village near Skrad, Croatia * Bužin, a village near Buje Buje (; ) is a town situated in Istria, Croatia's westernmost peninsula. Buj ...
,
Črnomerec Črnomerec () is one of the city districts of Zagreb,Croatia. Original name was Črnomerec kod Pitona. It is located in the western part of the city and has nearly forty thousand inhabitants. History Archeological findings from Donja Kusto� ...
, Jankomir, and
Maksimir Maksimir () is one of the districts of Zagreb, Croatia, population 48,902 (2011 census). Maksimir stadium and Maksimir Park are located in it. It was named for Bishop Maksimilijan Vrhovac. The urban center of the Maksimir district is located a ...
. Public transport and automobile traffic ceased in many streets, while trapped people had to be rescued from flooded cars and apartments. A firefighter died at an intervention. No financial estimate of damage was released by the authorities. The city government reported receiving over 2,000 damage claims during an eight-day filing period. Zagreb lies on the foothills of
Medvednica Medvednica (, ) is a mountain in central Croatia, just north of Zagreb, and marking the southern border of the historic region of Zagorje. Most of it is encompassed by the Medvednica Nature Park. The highest peak, at is Sljeme. Most of the are ...
mountain, with the inner city squeezed on a floodplain between the mountain and the River Sava. Both the mountain streams and the river have produced deadly floods in the past. A system of flood defences has since been created to prevent flooding, and is under the jurisdiction of the state water management company, Hrvatske vode. However, in spite of flash flood hazard warnings issued by Croatian and international agencies in the preceding 48 hours, the flood defences were not activated. A group of Trnje residents broke into the empty building of the
Kuniščak Kuniščak is a torrential stream in Zagreb, Croatia. It emerges on the foothills of Medvednica, Medvednica Mountain and flows south through the city into the River Sava. Earlier in Zagreb's history, Kuniščak was the location of flour mills, wh ...
dam, which functions as the outlet to many of the torrential streams, and opened the dam to drain the flood waters from the city. In the following days, a controversy ensued about who was responsible for the dam being closed, and its control building locked and unstaffed. Hrvatske vode, the mayor, and the city's water and sewer utility company all denied responsibility for the flood and faced criticism from the public. Additionally, a local man broke in and operated the dam controls was arrested by the police in an incident described by some as a case of
police brutality Police brutality is the excessive and unwarranted use of force by law enforcement against an individual or Public order policing, a group. It is an extreme form of police misconduct and is a civil rights violation. Police brutality includes, b ...
, prompting a public outcry. Hrvatske vode filed a police complaint for breaking and entering against the group of residents. The man was exonerated of all charges in May 2021.


Background

Zagreb faces flooding hazard from two sources: the River Sava, which caused the devastating flood of 1964; and the so-called Zagreb streams of
Medvednica Mountain Medvednica (, ) is a mountain in central Croatia, just north of Zagreb, and marking the southern border of the historic region of Zagorje. Most of it is encompassed by the Medvednica Nature Park. The highest peak, at is Sljeme. Most of the area ...
, on whose southern side the city lies. There are several dozen streams on the Zagreb-facing side of Medvednica. They are known for torrential flow during rainstorms. A particularly violent flash flood occurred in July 1651, when the Medveščak stream overflowed during a night-time storm, washing away numerous houses and trees in Potok Street and causing 52 deaths. Flood defences were built around Medveščak as early as the 17th century. The last major flooding event in the city was the overflowing of Zagreb streams during record rains of 3–4 July 1989, causing flooding in the area from the
Zagreb Zoo Zagreb Zoo () is a zoo located within Maksimir Park in Zagreb, Croatia. It is one of three zoo parks in the country. Zagreb Zoo is a member of both the European and the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums and is a participant in the E ...
in Maksimir Street to Žitnjak, which prompted the construction of retentions and sluices to control the drainage of storm waters from Medvednica foothills, as well as channelling and covering of Zagreb streams. As of 2004, 19 out of planned 39 retentions had been built. No new retentions have been constructed since. Risk of flooding from Zagreb streams is exacerbated by the city's geography. The terrain transitions abruptly from hills to impermeable highly urbanised river lowland, occasionally overwhelming the sewer system during heavy rainfall events. On 23 July at 02:00 CEST the European Flood Awareness System issued a flood warning for
Central Croatia In contemporary geography, the terms Central Croatia () and Mountainous Croatia () are used to describe most of the area sometimes historically known as Croatia or Croatia proper (), one of the four historical regions of the Republic of Cro ...
. The
Croatian Meteorological and Hydrological Service The Croatian Meteorological and Hydrological Service ( or DHMZ) is a public entity for meteorology, hydrology and air quality in Croatia. History DHMZ was founded 1947 and since then it is located on Grič 3 in Upper Town, old part of Zagreb. ...
(, DHMZ) had issued a red
Meteoalarm MeteoAlarm is a European weather warning website. Development by EUMETNET, the European Network of National Meteorological Services, began in 2002 and the website went live in 2007. MeteoAlarm is designed to consistently visualise awareness infor ...
thunderstorm warning, the highest level, for 24 July in Central Croatia, specifying a danger of flash flooding and power failures, and expected rainfall over . The European Storm Forecast Experiment issued a Level 2 alert for an area including Zagreb, warning of possibilities of large hail, severe wind gusts and tornadoes, and noting that "an excessive rainfall risk could arise over parts of Slovenia and Croatia during the overnight hours."


Meteorological history

An upper-level
trough Trough may refer to: In science * Trough (geology), a long depression less steep than a trench * Trough (meteorology), an elongated region of low atmospheric pressure * Trough (physics), the lowest point on a wave * Trough level (medicine), the l ...
with cool air was approaching Croatia from the Alps in the west, meeting humid air arriving from the sea in the southwest. Together with
orographic lift Orographic lift occurs when an air mass is forced from a low elevation to a higher elevation as it moves over rising terrain. As the air mass gains altitude it quickly cools down adiabatically, which can raise the relative humidity to 100% and cr ...
stemming from coastal
Dinaric Alps The Dinaric Alps (), also Dinarides, are a mountain range in Southern Europe, Southern and Southcentral Europe, separating the continental Balkan Peninsula from the Adriatic Sea. They stretch from Italy in the northwest through Slovenia, Croatia ...
, this created conditions highly conducive to forming strong thunderstorms, signalled by high convective available potential energy (CAPE) and deep layer
wind shear Wind shear (; also written windshear), sometimes referred to as wind gradient, is a difference in wind speed and/or direction over a relatively short distance in the atmosphere. Atmospheric wind shear is normally described as either vertical ...
of . Severe thunderstorms first developed during the night of 23–24 July over northern Italy. By mid-day, storms began forming over Croatia. Hail was recorded in
Istria Istria ( ; Croatian language, Croatian and Slovene language, Slovene: ; Italian language, Italian and Venetian language, Venetian: ; ; Istro-Romanian language, Istro-Romanian: ; ; ) is the largest peninsula within the Adriatic Sea. Located at th ...
, and in the afternoon a flash flood struck
Senj Senj is a town on the upper Adriatic coast in Croatia, in the foothills of the Mala Kapela and Velebit mountains. The symbol of the town is the Nehaj Fortress () which was completed in 1558. For a time this was the seat of the Uskoks, who were ...
, a coastal city south of Zagreb. Storms also caused damage in
Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...
, with flash flooding and high winds recorded in
Tuzla Tuzla (, , ) is the List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, third-largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the administrative center of Tuzla Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. As of 2013, it has a population of 110,979 inha ...
. The
storm cell A storm cell is an air mass that contains up and down vertical draft, drafts in convective loops and that moves and reacts as a single entity, functioning as the smallest unit of a storm-producing system. An organized grouping of thunder clouds wi ...
which caused flooding formed southwest of the city around 21:00 CEST. As the trough turned into a
low Low or LOW or lows, may refer to: People * Low (surname), listing people surnamed Low Places * Low, Quebec, Canada * Low, Utah, United States * Lo Wu station (MTR code LOW), Hong Kong; a rail station * Salzburg Airport (ICAO airport code: LO ...
, the storm system stalled over Zagreb around 21:45, causing heavy rainfall and a high incidence of lightning. The storm dropped unusually high amounts of rain over a short period of time. The Zagreb- Grič meteorological station, which has kept hourly rainfall records since 1910, measured a record-breaking of rain in the one-hour period from 21:00 to 22:00 and a total of from 21:00 to 23:00, the latter occurrence having a
return period A return period, also known as a recurrence interval or repeat interval, is an average time or an estimated average time between events such as earthquakes, floods, landslides, or river discharge flows to occur. The reciprocal value of return p ...
of over 400 years. The Zagreb-Maksimir station measured in the same time period, an amount with a 76-year return period. The 24-hour totals were for Grič, for Mt Sljeme, Medvednica's peak, and for Maksimir, in places higher than the average for the entire month of July, but fell short of the rainfall of the 1989 flash flood and the 24-hour rainfall records established in 1926. In an average year, the rainiest day sees of precipitation.


Flooding

The rainfall quickly caused torrential flow in the Zagreb streams. Water level of the Štefanovec stream rose nearly sixfold in a short period of time. According to the DHMZ, overflowing of streams was avoided due to summer low water levels and the precipitation being concentrated on Zagreb city centre, but the high amount of inflowing water strained the mixed sewage–stormwater drain system in the inner city, causing flooding in substantial areas of Zagreb. The flooding was worst in the city centre, which lies south of the transition to lowlands, on the River Sava floodplain which is protected from river waters by embankments. Water interrupted tram traffic and rendered major streets and underpasses impassable, while the failure of the sewer system caused water to back into homes and buildings. Areas affected by flooding included Ilica street, British Square, Donji grad district,
Trnje Trnje () is a district in the City of Zagreb, Croatia. According to the 2011 census, the district had 42,282 residents. It is located in the central part of the city, south of Donji grad across the railway ( Zagreb Main Station), east of Trešn ...
,
Stara Trešnjevka Stara is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Aleksandrów, within Piotrków County, Łódź Voivodeship, in central Poland. It lies approximately south-west of Aleksandrów, south-east of Piotrków Trybunalski, and south-east of ...
,
Rudeš Rudeš is a neighbourhood of Zagreb, Croatia, within the Trešnjevka – sjever district. The area covered by the local city council Rudeš has a population of 9,725 (2011). In Rudeš, there is also an elementary school called "Elementary school ...
, Jazbina, Črnomerec neighbourhood of Šestinski dol Jankomir, and
Buzin Buzin may refer to: * Buzin, Zagreb, a village near Zagreb, Croatia * Buzin, Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, a village near Skrad, Croatia * Bužin, a village near Buje Buje (; ) is a town situated in Istria, Croatia's westernmost peninsula. Buj ...
. In Črnomerec, Fraterščica Road was closed due to water damage, while drivers had to be helped out of stranded cars in numerous places. Torrential flow blocked the
Črnomerec Črnomerec () is one of the city districts of Zagreb,Croatia. Original name was Črnomerec kod Pitona. It is located in the western part of the city and has nearly forty thousand inhabitants. History Archeological findings from Donja Kusto� ...
stream culvert at Črnomerec Road, later causing flooding during another hailstorm on 26 July. In the low-lying district of Trnje, local residents reported that the flood arrived after 22:00, blowing out manhole covers before entering homes. The water accumulated until some of the residents broke into the empty, flooded control room of the
Kuniščak Kuniščak is a torrential stream in Zagreb, Croatia. It emerges on the foothills of Medvednica, Medvednica Mountain and flows south through the city into the River Sava. Earlier in Zagreb's history, Kuniščak was the location of flour mills, wh ...
dam and managed to open the sluice gate, after which the water level in the neighbourhood receded. According to the residents, the flood tripped the building's
residual-current device A residual-current device (RCD), residual-current circuit breaker (RCCB) or ground fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) is an electrical safety device, more specifically a form of Earth-leakage circuit breaker, that interrupts an electrical circuit ...
, so one of them manually operated the
control valve A control valve is a valve used to control fluid flow by varying the size of the flow passage as directed by a signal from a controller. This enables the direct control of flow rate and the consequential control of process quantities such as pres ...
. The Kuniščak dam on the Sava's left embankment is part of Zagreb metropolitan area's flood defence system. The dam controls water flow between Sava and many Zagreb streams whose natural mouths have been blocked and flows re-routed to prevent backward flow at high Sava water levels. The dam is managed by Hrvatske vode, who could not be reached during the emergency according to the residents. According to Vodoopskrba i odvodnja (ViO), Zagreb's public water and sewer utility company, the flooding was additionally exacerbated because all 19 retentions on Zagreb streams were left opened. The retentions are intended to be closed when flooding is likely, in order to retard the water flow, thus preventing flash floods downstream. The flood claimed a single indirect fatality, a volunteer firefighter who died while responding to an emergency. Among the injured was a disabled man who was helped out of his car by a passerby after his car was dragged by the torrent into an underpass under of water. There were several thousand calls to emergency services. Around 23:00, Zagreb Fire Department requested that citizens not call them except in cases of extreme urgency. There were around 50 ambulance interventions.


Kuniščak dam

The closed sluice gate quickly became a point of controversy. Both the City of Zagreb and Hrvatske vode, the state company responsible for flood protection, disavowed responsibility for the inactivated flood defences. On 26 July, Hrvatske vode held a press conference at the Kuniščak dam, denying responsibility for the flood. The representatives cited lack of urgency due to low water in Sava, at below the zero level, as the reason for not staffing the dam. They were heckled by assembled residents. The following day, Hrvatske vode stated on the '' Otvoreno'' talk show that the sluice gate was closed to avoid river water backing into the city, and because all wastewater was intended for the
wastewater treatment Wastewater treatment is a process which removes and eliminates contaminants from wastewater. It thus converts it into an effluent that can be returned to the water cycle. Once back in the water cycle, the effluent creates an acceptable impact on ...
plant at the main wastewater canal (), which also has an outlet into Sava, downriver from Zagreb. The ViO director credited a new interceptor sewer in eastern Zagreb with saving the neighbourhoods of
Trnava Trnava (, , ; , also known by other #Names and etymology, alternative names) is a city in western Slovakia, to the northeast of Bratislava, on the Trnávka river. It is the capital of the Trnava Region and the Trnava District. It is the seat o ...
and
Sesvete Sesvete () is the easternmost city district of Zagreb, Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwe ...
, which are not connected to the treatment plant. Hrvatske vode later stated that it had been ViO's responsibility to staff the dam, and that flash flooding is not their area of responsibility. During a storm on 3 August, the sluice gate was staffed by Hrvatske vode due to "expected water level rises in ephemeral water courses", and was opened to prevent flooding. In response to a subsequent media inquiry, Hrvatske vode stated that they would have opened the gate during the flash flood, had they received such a request from ViO. The official of Hrvatske vode responsible for flood control in the upper course of Sava was removed from his position as a result of the controversy.


Arrest

Tihomir Blagus, the Trnje resident who operated the sluice gate was arrested by the police the day after the storm. He had returned to the dam control shed, where he encountered and engaged in conversation with several police officers who were investigating the break-in, confessing to them his actions of the previous night. He was released from custody the same day, allegedly due to public pressure. According to Blagus, he was tackled and arrested after asking for his mobile phone back, after he tried to film the conversation with his phone and a policeman knocked it out of his hands. According to a statement by the police, he was under the influence of alcohol, yelled and made gestures at the officers, and refused to cease this behaviour. The police statement described the cause of arrest as breach of peace, not the control building break-in. A video of Blagus' arrest was published on Facebook, showing an officer applying pressure on the man's neck with his knee. The police said that the footage is incomplete and taken out of context. Police did not take disciplinary action against the involved officers, stating that the method of applying shin pressure on the arrestee's neck was legal, while former Croatian
interior minister An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a Cabinet (government), cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and iden ...
Ranko Ostojić Ranko Ostojić (; born 3 October 1962) is a Croatian lawyer and centre-left politician who served as the 11th Interior Minister in the Cabinet of Zoran Milanović from December 2011 to January 2016. Ostojić graduated from the Split Faculty of ...
said the method had been banned several years earlier. The manner of the arrest gave way to accusations of
police brutality Police brutality is the excessive and unwarranted use of force by law enforcement against an individual or Public order policing, a group. It is an extreme form of police misconduct and is a civil rights violation. Police brutality includes, b ...
, and sparked a discussion on whether citizens are allowed to film police officers on duty. Attorneys consulted by the ''
Jutarnji list () is a Croatian daily newspaper based in Zagreb. It was published on 6 April 1998 by EPH (Europapress holding, owned by Ninoslav Pavić), which eventually changed its name in Hanza Media after being bought by Marijan Hanžeković. The newspap ...
'' newspaper and
RTL RTL may refer to: Media * RTL Group, a European TV, radio, and production company *** List of RTL Group's television stations (including part-owned channels) *** List of RTL Group's radio stations ** RTL Lëtzebuerg, usually referred to simply a ...
television network stated that citizens are within their rights to film police officers in similar situations. Lora Vidović announced her office was investigating the incident, but declined to comment on the legality of the arrest. Social and news media condemned the use of force and hailed Blagus as the "hero who saved Trnje" for his actions during the flood. An online petition was started in his support. Hrvatske vode reported the control building break-in to the police, and in September charges were filed against Blagus for breach of peace and disrespecting an officer of the law. While Hrvatske vode stated they attempted to retract the break-in complaint. In Croatian law, breaking and entering is punishable by a fine or a jail sentence up to one year. Court cases against some of the residents who broke in were still ongoing as of December 2020; in May 2021, however, Blagus was found not guilty. In Blagus' home, the flood destroyed furniture, appliances, flooring and most of his possessions, including his car. Trnje residents stated they had to wash away accumulated mud from their streets on their own, as city services did not arrive to clean the streets for several days. Blagus was allegedly offered a compensation of 2,500  Croatian kuna (
The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...
330) by Mayor
Milan Bandić Milan Bandić (22 November 1955 – 28 February 2021) was a Croatian politician and the longest-serving mayor of Zagreb, the capital of Croatia. Bandić was mayor almost continuously from 2000 to 2021, except during the time between his resignati ...
through the neighbourhood council, an offer described as "generous" by the message, which he declined. His employer donated 43,000 kuna (€5,600) worth of furniture to his household. Blagus said that the city estimated the damage at 100,000 kuna (€13,000).


Damage

Numerous households were inundated by storm waters and backed up sewage. Zagreb Fire Department conducted several hundred interventions, mainly pumping out water from homes, and rescuing people from stranded cars, and basement and ground floor apartments. The flood caused further damage to some of the buildings already damaged in the earthquake four months earlier. Among those were the Children's Hospital Zagreb in Klaić Street, where the flood destroyed the hospital pharmacy and medical equipment, including the hospital's supply of
artificial skin Artificial skin is a collagen scaffold that induces regeneration of skin in mammals such as humans. The term was used in the late 1970s and early 1980s to describe a new treatment for massive burns. It was later discovered that treatment of deep ...
, the University of Zagreb Faculty of Science administrative building, and a number of public libraries. Initial estimates put the damage in the children's hospital at 1–1.5 million kuna (€130,000–€200,000) not including furniture and computer equipment. Equipment was lent from other hospitals. Hospital workers spent the night of the flood pumping and bailing out water which reached a height of . Other buildings with significant flood damage included the Museum of Arts and Crafts and Importanne Centar shopping mall, the recently opened Backo Mini Express model train museum, and
University of Zagreb The University of Zagreb (, ) is a public university, public research university in Zagreb, Croatia. It is the largest Croatian university and one of the oldest continuously operating universities in Europe. The University of Zagreb and the Unive ...
's Faculty of Food Technology and Biotechnology. As of September 2020, Zagreb city government had not released information about the extent of the damage. On 26 July, the Ministry of Regional Development and EU Funds considered requesting financial assistance for flood damage from the EU; there were no further announcements on this matter.


Response

President
Zoran Milanović Zoran Milanović (; born 30 October 1966) is a Croatia, Croatian politician and the incumbent president of Croatia. First elected in 2020, he was re-elected in 2025 with 74% voter support. Prior to assuming the presidency, he was the prime min ...
, Prime Minister
Andrej Plenković Andrej Plenković ( ; born 8 April 1970) is a Croatian politician serving as the Prime Minister of Croatia, prime minister of Croatia since October 2016. He was previously one of eleven List of members of the European Parliament for Croatia, 201 ...
and Mayor Milan Bandić expressed their condolences for the deceased firefighter and his family. Mayor Bandić said the city would help with flood damage, but denied local government's responsibility for the damage. He said that damage was "minimal", the "cause was chiefly do-it-yourself onstruction, and the flood would have been "forgotten in 24 hours" if it were not for the deceased firefighter. These comments were criticised by the opposition and by residents affected by the floods. The residents and neighbourhood councils were initially given less than two days to file damage claims and have them relayed to the city government. The deadline was later extended by one week after requests from opposition parties. The city government reported receiving 2,277 damage claims, of which 1,738 were accepted. Mayor Bandić stated that the flood did not fulfill the requirements for proclaiming a state of natural disaster because it caused less than 1 billion kuna (€130 million) in damage. Although Bandić initially promised compensation of up to 50,000 kuna (€6,600) or accommodation in public housing, in February 2021, the City requested further documentation for the claims, and announced that uninsured flood victim households would receive lump sum payments of 3,000 to 12,000 kuna (€400–1,580) as compensation. News reports covered the poor shape of storm drains in Zagreb, the maintenance of which had ceased after the earthquake, according to ViO director. ViO and the city also received criticism for poor sewerage design from residents of a number of flooded neighbourhoods, citing recurring flooding issues that started after sewer or road works. Residents of Jazbina street blamed the city's 2011 street reconstruction, which re-routed storm runoff around the long Jazbina retention, for recurrent flooding at heavy rainfall. Newspapers questioned why the city of
Varaždin Varaždin ( or ; , also known by #Name, alternative names) is a city in Northern Croatia, north-east of Zagreb. The total population is 46,946, with 38,839 in the city settlement itself (2011). The city is best known for its baroque buildings, ...
, north of Zagreb, saw more rainfall from the same storm system (), yet did not experience significant flooding as in Zagreb. An expert credited lower intensity of rainfall in Varaždin, different terrain, and better sewerage maintenance. On 28 July, Mayor Bandić announced the city would sue Hrvatske vode for "stealing 450 million kuna ��60 millionin utility charges" from Zagreb residents. Opposition politicians criticised Bandić's response, blaming the disaster on a lack of communication between the City and Hrvatske vode, and a long-term state of disrepair of utility services in Zagreb, citing frequent water and
district heating District heating (also known as heat networks) is a system for distributing heat generated in a centralized location through a system of insulated pipes for residential and commercial heating requirements such as space heater, space heating and w ...
outages, open sewers near the city centre, and sinkholes opening up on street surfaces.


Future

ViO announced a 2 billion kuna (€260 million) project, and plans to retrofit Zagreb's stormwater drain system to prevent such floods in the future, though "warning" that it would not be possible without cooperation with Hrvatske vode. The plans would involve replacement of aged pipes and adding computer-controlled valves and sensors. ViO announced a plan to transfer the Kuniščak dam under its own responsibility and outfit it with a remote control system. Zagreb's sewers date back to 1892, and inner city drains transport both sewage and storm waters. According to ViO, the day's rainfall was three times more than the sewers can handle. The DHMZ said that such heavy rainfall events will become more common and more extreme in the future due to
climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...
. As in many other large cities, the risk and severity of
urban flooding Urban flooding is the inundation of land or property in cities or other built environment, caused by rainfall or coastal storm surges overwhelming the capacity of drainage systems, such as storm sewers. Urban flooding can occur regardless of whethe ...
has also increased due to the urban area expanding and taking over previously permeable ground. Over the preceding 15 years, ViO and its parent company,
Zagreb Holding Zagreb Holding () is a city enterprise of Zagreb, Croatia. It was established in 2006, according to the ''Companies Act'' and it is 100-percent owned by City of Zagreb. Zagreb Holding was created by transferring business equities in 21 companies ...
, had raised several hundred million euro through bonds for improvements to Zagreb's water and sewerage network, but nearly all of the money was spent on other purposes, including real estate deals. Together with the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
and the earthquake, the flood contributed to the growth in the number of
homeless people Homelessness, also known as houselessness or being unhoused or unsheltered, is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and functional housing. It includes living on the streets, moving between temporary accommodation with family or friends, liv ...
in Zagreb in 2020. The flood was also commemorated in art.
Filip Šovagović Filip Šovagović (born 13 September 1966) is a Croatian actor, film director, comedian, playwright and journalist. At first known simply as the son of renowned actor Fabijan Šovagović, he has established himself as one of the most prolific Cr ...
and Dubravko Mihanović wrote ''Zagreb 2020'', a play about the calamities which struck the city in 2020, including the flood. The play premiered on 27 November 2020 at the Lauba House, and is as of June 2021 performed at other venues by the staff of Gavella Drama Theatre, whose building awaits earthquake damage repairs. Performance artist Aleksandar Battista Ilić hung large red crosses made of canvas on several damaged buildings in Ilica street as part of the Project Ilica: Q'Art
community art Community art, also known as social art, community-engaged art, community-based art, and, rarely, dialogical art, is the practice of art based in—and generated in—a community setting. It is closely related to social practice and social turn. ...
event.


See also

*
1964 Zagreb flood On 25 October 1964, a devastating flood of the River Sava struck Zagreb, SR Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia. High rainfall upriver caused rivers and streams in the Sava catchment basin to swell and spill over their banks in many places throughout Slov ...
*
List of flash floods This list of notable flash floods summarizes the most widely reported events. See also * List of deadliest floods * List of major dam failures * 2021 European floods References {{Rivers, streams and springs Flash Flash Flash, flas ...
*
List of floods in Europe This is a list of notable recorded floods that have occurred in Europe. See also * Drought * Floods Directive * List of floods * 2021 European floods * List of flash floods * Storm tides of the North Sea References {{DEFAULTSORT: ...


References


Bibliography

* * * * * * {{Authority control Floods in Croatia
Flash flood A flash flood is a rapid flooding of low-lying areas: washes, rivers, dry lakes and depressions. It may be caused by heavy rain associated with a severe thunderstorm, hurricane, or tropical storm, or by meltwater from ice and snow. Flash f ...
2020 floods in Europe Z Weather events in Croatia 2020 disasters in Croatia