Slovenia storm triggers flash floods, landslides across multiple regions

A severe summer storm swept across Slovenia, packing destructive winds, torrential rains, and hail that severely damaged over 150 buildings, triggered widespread power outages, and devastated crops.

The supercell moved from west to east, affecting the entire northern part of the country. The Gorenjska region in the north bore the brunt of the devastation, while eastern agricultural heartlands suffered critical losses to crops, CE Report quotes The Slovenia Times.

Widespread destruction in Komenda

The municipality of Komenda was identified as the hardest-hit area, with over 100 buildings sustaining severe structural damage. Fierce winds tore roofs from residential and public structures, collapsed walls, and downed power lines.

Emergency services installed power generators to provide power to local schools, kindergartens, and public buildings, while specialized vehicles and aerial drones were deployed to assess the damage.

"The damage is enormous, especially in the villages of Nasovče, Breg, Klanec, Potok, and part of Komenda," said Komenda Mayor Jurij Kern. "It's not just the roofs that were damaged, but there are also a large number of walls on houses that are near collapse, and the repairs needed will be very extensive."

The municipality believes the damage will run into tens of millions of euros, and the government has already promised to help, not just financially but also by simplifying procedures for delivering aid.

While no human casualties were reported, local officials confirmed livestock losses, particularly poultry, due to collapsed commercial barns.

Crops devastated in the east

As the system moved east, a heavy barrage of hail pounded the Lower Podravje and Štajerska regions. In Ptuj, the Infrastructure Center managed by the Agricultural Institute of Slovenia reported catastrophic losses to the seed bank.

"Hail destroyed a large part of the seed crop of Slovenian indigenous varieties of vegetables and field crops," warned Blaž Germšek, head of infrastructure and research at the Agricultural Institute.

"Garlic suffered the most... We have been warning the state for several years that we urgently need additional netting. It showed again this time that where we had them, the crop remained untouched."

The system also dumped huge amounts of hail in Haloze, a wine growing region in the east. While the hail stones were not large, the sheer amount of them wreaked havoc on crops.

"We're already done with the grape harvest for the year," said NLB bank chief executive Blaž Brodnjak, whose family have a vineyard in the region.

Flash floods and landslides in Savinja Valley and Koroška

The storm front further triggered flash flooding and landslides across the Savinja Valley and Koroška regions, leaving hundreds of homes without electricity.

Landslides forced the complete closure of the Podlehnik-Rogatec regional road at Žetale, which had already been badly hit the day before as a storm cell dumped more than 100 litres of rain on the community in just hours, triggering 50 landslides.

Meanwhile, in Koprivna, emergency personnel evacuated residents living directly beneath a clogged mountain stream barrier feared to be on the verge of collapse.

Civil protection units deployed thousands of sandbags to protect residential areas and critical infrastructure, including a local pharmacy in Slovenj Gradec.

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