Together with Serbian authorities, EU specialists are still making a major effort to protect power plants in Obrenovac and Kostolac that are yet under threat. The team and resources will be available in Serbia until further notice.

Thanks to water pumps, some of which with the capacity as high as 25.000 litres of water per minute, situation near the power plants has been stabilised, said Divisional Officer of the EU Civil Protection Team (EUCPT) Terry Webb.

“We approximately pumped out half a million tons of water a day,” said Webb, adding that the EU and Member States had reacted so swiftly to Serbian authorities’ request for emergency assistance, that by 8 pm Friday, May 16, “we already had a Slovenian team pumping out water in Obrenovac” near Nikola Tesla power plant (TENT).

At the peak, the EU team engaged significant piece of equipment provided by Member States: six rescue helicopters, eight water rescue teams and 13 high capacity water pumps, Webb said.

“That was a key and critical task,” the EUCPT chief said, adding that the EU rescue and technical teams were also engaged in flood relief operations in Šabac, Jagodina, Lazarevac and other flood-affected areas across Serbia.

At the moment pumps are being used to maintain stability around TENT, whereas in Kostolac the risk of flooding has decreased, so the team is considering redeploying a number of pumps to other areas with the large scale of flood.

The team is now identifying important areas where further assistance is needed.

“Those resources are available until further notice,” Web said.

The European Union, together with Serbian authorities, considers the means of deploying pre-accession funds (IPA) that are already being used by Serbia, to match the urgent needs of flood-affected population, Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia Michael Davenport said, adding that they sought to speed up the procedure of making the money available in 10 to 15 weeks.

According to Davenport, the money will be used for the reconstruction of public buildings, local and rural infrastructure, but also to technically and socially assist the affected population.

Next stage in providing assistance will be earmarked for citizens and business, in order to help them “get back on their feet.”

Over next couple of weeks, the EU will team up with EBRD, EIB, World Bank, and UN to work on a detailed needs assessment.