Boats sailed through the streets of a Serbian town yesterday on a mission to rescue people trapped by rising waters as the worst floods ever recorded swept Serbia and Bosnia.

Some residents of Obrenovac, 30 km southwest of the capital Belgrade, were stranded on the roofs of their homes, calling for help. Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said all 25,000 citizens would have to be evacuated.

At least five people have died in the unfolding disaster this week. Thousands have been evacuated from homes in central and western areas of Serbia and in neighbouring Bosnia.

Around 135,000 households were without power across Serbia and the government approved emergency electricity imports. Another 65,000 were without electricity in Bosnia.

“This is a catastrophe. Nature has never been so cruel to us,” Serbian Energy Minister Aleksandar Antic said.

This is a catastrophe – nature has never been so cruel to us

The heaviest rains since records began almost 120 years ago have hit Serbia and Bosnia this week. Three people, including a rescue worker, drowned in Serbia. At least two villagers died in landslides near the northern Bosnian town of Bijeljina. The deluge has made many hillsides unstable in the mountainous region. Several people were injured when houses were destroyed by a landslide on the edge of the Bosnian capital Sarajevo.

Bosnia’s Centre for the Removal of Landmines warned that mines laid during the country’s 1992-95 war could be moved by floods and landslides.

In Bosnia, an army helicopter evacuated a pregnant woman in labour from her flooded house in Doboj and took her to hospital in the central town of Zenica. Low clouds and fog were making rescue efforts difficult.

In the village of Topcic Polje, near Zenica, a landslide devoured dozens of houses and water flooded the main road.

Villagers fled on foot along railway tracks with bags and babies in their arms.