Severe flooding affected the area of Kolašin in central Montenegro on November 26, 2007, mostly in the upper stretches of the river Tara. The gravest situation was in the villages under the mountain of Kom in Mataševo and Skrbuša, but also in Kolašin, Trebaljevo and Sjerogošt.

The floods continued in the following days, affecting the municipalities of Andrijevica, Berane, Rožaje, Plav, Mojkovac, Bijelo Polje and Podgorica as well. The situation was the gravest in Rožaje, where more than a hundred families were evacuated from their flooded homes. The towns of Berane and Andrijevica also suffered great damage; around 40 more households were severely affected.

The floods damaged part of the waterworks network, so Berane and part of Andrijevica had no drinking water. This situation needed the response of all available rescue and communal services, as well as the engagement of the municipal crisis headquarters in order to assess the damage and the needs of the affected families. The Red Cross of Montenegro participated in each of these activities with its full potential.

In the secretariat of the Red Cross of Montenegro, an operational body was formed sending and receiving information from the affected areas every six hours. In addition, a national disaster response team was put on standby.

Municipal Red Cross branches in the affected area contacted their respective municipal crisis headquarters, led by the local authorities, and subsequently participated in all the assessment, rescue and evacuation activities as an integral part of those bodies.

The proposed Red Cross operation was meant to provide immediate assistance to the affected population, as well as extended assistance to meet the basic needs of the most vulnerable through a period of two months. According to the assessment conducted by the Red Cross of Montenegro, in cooperation with the local crisis headquarters, there were an estimated 1,086 people or 179 families in need of assistance across all the municipalities. Their needs were mainly food and hygiene items, as well as temporary accommodation. Some immediate needs had already been met at the beginning of the flooding, therefore part of the requested allocation was used to replenish the disaster response stocks of the Red Cross of Montenegro.

The first phase of the relief distribution was run immediately after the International Federation’s Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) [1] request was made, between December 5 and 10, 2007. In this phase, the immediate needs of the most vulnerable population were met using the Red Cross of Montenegro stocks, which were later replenished from the DREF operation budget.

The second phase of the relief distribution included the distribution of the remaining food and hygiene parcels, in total 50 food parcels and 50 hygiene parcels, in the areas where the damage caused by the floods still had not been repaired. This distribution was carried out on January 18, 2008.

The Red Cross of Montenegro monitored the situation throughout and communicated with governmental and other services and agencies, in case new needs should arise, and in order to prevent overlapping in the affected areas.

DREF Final Report on operation n° MDRME001, May 30, 2008