Croatia’s Istria region hit by sudden and severe flooding

Nearly 2,000 lightning strikes were recorded within two hours as cars were swept away and emergency services struggled through flooded roads.

Residents described the scale as unprecedented. “That’s never happened,” said Vlado from Dajla, who has lived there for 30 years. Another resident, Anton, called it “a catastrophe, a cataclysm.”

In Mareda, a resident, Denis, blamed blocked canals for worsening the flooding, recalling how similar conditions once left people navigating Umag by boat.