Slovenia is beginning to assess the human and economic toll from flooding that’s inundated parts of the country as the Alpine nation of 2.1 million took the brunt of record rainfall in central Europe.
With at least six killed and thousands forced to evacuate their homes, a damage estimate of more than €500 million ($548 million) floated by Prime Minister Robert Golob on Saturday could be well outstripped. Local authorities and business associations say that rebuilding and lost production could tally into the billions.
Shares of the largest Slovenian insurers, Zavarovalnica Triglav and Sava Re, have each lost more than 9% since Thursday, when heavy rains began.
Slovenia was most dramatically affected by flooding this month that also hit neighboring Croatia, Austria and Hungary. The government in Ljubljana took steps over the weekend to speed up aid for the hardest hit municipalities and intends to ask for European Union assistance.
As aid offers poured in, Golob told reporters on Friday that the flooding will “probably cause the greatest damages by natural disasters in the history of independent Slovenia,” referring to the nation’s breaking away from Yugoslavia in 1991.
