Serbian army soldiers evacuate people on a boat in the flooded town of Obrenovac, near Belgrade, May 18, 2014. [Photo/Agencies]

Bodies pulled from submerged homes in Balkans flooding

The economic impact of the floods is likely to be huge, devastating the agricultural sector vital to both the Serbian and Bosnian economies.

Vucic said a fire and flooding of surface mines on Friday at the Kolubara coal-fired power plant southwest of Belgrade had caused damage of at least 100 million euros ($137 million).

"These are the kind of waters not seen in 1,000 years, let alone 100," Vucic told a televised cabinet session.

He said 12 bodies had been recovered from Obrenovac after waters dropped from a peak of some three metres (10 feet). At least five more were reported dead elsewhere in Serbia.

In Bosnia, 19 people were confirmed dead, with nine bodies recovered from the northeastern town of Doboj after what the regional police chief described as a "tsunami" of water.

Half the town was still submerged. Soldiers delivered food and medical supplies by truck, boat and bulldozer. Cranes lifted medical workers into some homes and removed stranded residents from others.

In Croatia, the government said one person had died and two were missing in flooded villages in an eastern corner of the country near Bosnia and Serbia. The army used amphibious vehicles to help evacuate some 3,000 people.

"I carried my kids out on my back, then waited 12 hours to be rescued myself," said 40-year-old Obrenovac resident Dragan Todorovic, who spent the night in a Belgrade sports hall with dozens of other families. "The house was new, built two years ago for 100,000 euros. What now?"