The cities of Orasje and Brcko in northeast Bosnia, where the Sava River forms the natural border with Croatia, were in danger of being overwhelmed during this years May's floodings. Officials in Brcko ordered six villages to be evacuated. Rescuers urged people to go to the balconies or rooftops of their houses with bright fabric to make themselves visible. Brcko Mayor Anto Domic said that unless the Bosnian Army was able to reinforce from the air, the city would have been flooded completely. He called for the Defense Ministry to use helicopters to lower steel barriers that could be backed by sandbags to contain the water. "It is a very demanding task," he said, acknowledging that officials would have no other way to protect the port city of more than 70,000. Based on the results of non technical survey conducted by Bosnia and Herzegovina Mine Action Centre (BHMAC) confirmed hazardous areas in the community of Donji Rahić are suspected to contain different types of anti-personnel mines including PROM, anti-tank mines and other explosive remnants of war. During the floods of May 2014 most of the territory of the community of Donji Rahić was affected. The community of Donji Rahić is located at north-western part of Brčko District BiH. The community of Dubrave is located at south-western part of Brčko District BiH. Based on the results of non technical survey conducted by BHMAC, confirmed hazardous areas in the community of Dubrave are also suspected to contain different types of anti-personnel including PROM bounding fragmentation mines, anti-tank mines, and other explosive remnants of war. During the floods of May 2014 the community of Dubrave was affected by the fast flowing streams through the mine suspected hazardous areas. In May 2014 large swathes of Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia were devastated by what were some of the worst floods in a century. In the Brčko District, where RC Brcko is based, material damage from the floods exceeded 60 million KM (apx. EUR 30+ million).
Already Bosnia had not recovered from the devastating civil war of the 1990s, but needs now to recover from the floods too. Based on estimates from the Department for Displaced Persons, Refugees and Housing Government of Brčko District, the total number of displaced persons in Brčko district at the peak of floodings standed at 2,300 from the flooding (out of a district population of 93,000), of which 136 are children.
