Update on Serbia

We received this letter and update from our friend Jelena in Serbia ~

Dear friends, 


International Christian Fellowship would like to thank you so much for your prayers and support and for forwarding our prayer request to as many people, churches and organizations as possible all over the world:-). In this critical time for Serbia, but also for the Balkans, we do need each and every single prayer as we are still fighting the floods. 

We would like to update you on the latest developments and how you can continue to pray:-). From the time of our previous letter, the number of evacuated unfortunately rose to 24.352 people and will increase in the days to come. Serbia is yet to count casualties as the water still hasn't receded from many areas and several towns and villages were completely cut off from civilization until yesterday and were left without water and electricity. The water level rose to 6 meters in downtown areas of many towns and villages. Thirty percent of agricultural area of Serbia is completely devastated, more may be at risk and some projections say it would take 5 years to restore only that.  50% of all roads have been under water or severely damaged. Dozens of people are missing.  Thousands are still at immediate danger and need of evacuation and emergency support and supplies. Hundreds of thousands are affected. Food shortages, economic crisis and disease are looming. The damage on objects is yet to be estimated, but it is obvious now it would millions of euros. For a country like Serbia which already went through the devastation in 1990s, this is a very serious blow to the economy and agriculture. Some meteorological statistics say that this kind of rainfall happens once in 1000 years. 

The situation is extremely difficult, but we have God on our side and believe He is the only one who is able to produce good results out of this horrible situation. And take glory for everything:-). So let us start with praises at what God has done so far:

• Praise God that the sun has been shining since yesterday afternoon and the rain stopped. The level of local rivers is fortunately stagnating and in some areas they are withdrawing to its riverbeds.
• Praise God for unseen solidarity so far among the people. The entire nation is literary on its feet. Besides the firemen, police, rescue teams, trained professionals, all the institutions opened their doors to the victims of the flood (schools, sports centers, halls etc). Domestic and international companies are helping with donations. Local municipalities and churches open their premises to receive humanitarian aid in form of medicine, clothes, food etc brought by citizens not affected by the floods from all over Serbia. High schoolers, students, professional and recreational sports associations and teams, singers, artists, actors and others all do their part to help the victims. Thousands of volunteers came to help build the embankments and fill the sand bags. 
  
• Countries like Japan, US, Italy, Belarus, Baltic countries, France, Germany, Israel, Russia, EU Council, Czech Republic, former Yugoslav republics of Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro and Macedonia and neighbours such as Austria, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria are all helping, with equipment, rescue teams, donations of money and emergency supplies.

This is where we need your urgent and fervent prayers today and in days to come: 

• TOWNS OF SABAC, SREMSKA MITROVICA- prayers for Sunday night and Monday morning - Even though the sun is shining, there is another wave of flooding coming from Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina through the river Sava, which is expected to hit this night and in the days to come and jeopardize mostly towns of SABAC,SREMSKA MITROVICA and BELGRADE in the end.Pray that God send his angels who would be "on call" throughout 20 kilometers long embankment in the town of Sabac and prevent the river from overflowing - VERY IMPORTANT is that Sabac is defended as there is a chemical industry which, if flooded, can cause environmental catastrophe and jeopardize the entire water system of the country. 
  
• TOWN OF BARIC - also has chemical factory and of great importance to be defended from the flooding 
  
• TOWN OF OBRENOVAC - what used to be a cute suburb of Belgrade is now turned into a ghost town, 90% of the town was flooded, some people were stuck and drowned in their homes, their cattle, livestock, pets, entire estates are completely gone. We were told today, that dead bodies of elderly, children (those who were caught by the flood wave or simply did not manage to evacuate on time) and animals could be seen floating the town. The final number is yet unknown, so far, they counted 12 casualties. Please pray that God protects the rest of the coal power plant in the suburb which supplies 50% of Serbia with electricity. So far the damage in the plant is estimated to 100 million euros:-(.
• TOWN OF KOSTOLAC - there is another power plant in this town which supplies Serbia with electricity which is in danger of being flooded. 
  
• Very difficult situation is still in other towns like Lazarevac, Valjevo, Paraćin, Krupanj, Koceljeva, Smederevska Palanka, Svilajnac, Petrovac na Mlavi.
• The weather forecast says it will be around 30 degrees Celsius by the end of next week and there is great danger of all sorts of infectious diseases, once the water withdraws. Pray for the Government of Serbia to be fully equipped and ready to deal with the decomposed bodies of people and animals who have been in the water for several days now and for the entire cleaning processes that is ahead of us. Pray for God's protection over this process.
  

At the end,we want to thank you again for your immense support. Please, share this with everyone you know as we are starting a process of rebuilding this country which will take months, in some aspects, years and we need your help. 

At the following links, you can see today's reports by CNN and BBC:http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-27459184 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IH7G3CN8AlE&feature=youtube_gdata_player

May God bless you, 

Jelena