NATURAL AND OTHER DISASTERS AND INCIDENCES IN SLOVENIA IN 1999

Abstract

The article presents an annual review of the most important natural and other disasterswhich occured in Slovenia in 1999. There were some severe disasters in Slovenia in 1999. The event that caused the most significant damage was the high snow cover between 7th and 13th February, which exceeded one meter even in some lowland areas. Traffic, electricity supply and telephone connections failed and considerable damage was reported in forests. Snow cover also caused some problems in November. Heavy fainfall with floods and landslides were registered in May and June, but not in the period from September to October, which is quite an exceptional occurrence. Thunderstorms with heavy local precipitation, hail and strong winds were frequent in June and July, causing extensive damage mostly in eastern parts of the state. One of the most devastating thunderstorms with heavy hail hit the Dolenjska and Bela krajina regions in the beginning of September. The number of wildfires reached a total of 990, which is much less than in 1998 (2466). Wildfires destroyed a total of 988 hectares. There were also 1497 structural or building-related fires, 471 vehicle fires (the highest number ever recorded) and 624 other fires. The total number of fires in Slovenia in 1999 reached 3582, which is again much less than the highest number of fires ever recorded (5192). The number of pollution incidents is increasing. Although almost 500 occurrences were registered by firemen alone, only 169 pollution incidences are mentioned in this article. There were also 197 mountain accidents, 11 explosions, 7 river incidents, 2 aircaft accidents and 2 cave incidents in 1999. The number of persons who lost their lives in disasters in 1999 reached a total of 57. Thirty (30) persons died in mountain accidents, 10 in structural or building-related fires, 6 in vehicle fires and river incidents, 3 in explosions, and one in an aircaft accident and one in a cave incident. These figures are of course unoffical due to the inavailability of complete data.