Seven die in Bulgaria floods, Romania expects storm

SOFIA, Aug 7 (Reuters) Seven people drowned and four were missing after heavy rains caused severe flooding in northern Bulgaria, while storms cut off electricity and washed away bridges in neighbouring Romania, officials said today.

Six elderly people died in accidents in the small Bulgarian town of Tsar Kaloyan, some 380 km northeast of Sofia, after torrential rain cut off electricity and raised water levels, the local civil defence service said.

Four people, including a mother and her seven-year-old child, were missing in the lower end of the town which was partly submerged under 60 cm of floodwater.

An 89-year-old man drowned in his house in a village near the Danube river town of Rousse, where more than 20 houses were flooded.

Two days of heavy rain caused power cuts, flooding and damage to roads throughout the country -- only days after a month-long heatwave killed hundreds of people in the Balkans.

Romanian authorities issued flood warnings for 13 counties in the east and south of the country, saying river levels were at risk of rising abnormally high.

The Romanian weather institute issued a 'code yellow' warning for today and tomorrow, signalling torrential rain and strong winds.

Several small bridges in the eastern region of Moldova were washed away and storms cut off electricity supplies to several villages in Braila, Constanta and Giurgiu counties.

Reuters PY RS1807