TWO days of heavy rains left five roads destroyed, hundreds of houses flooded, and many animals drowned.

The worst flooding last Sunday was near the reservoir near Pravoslaven, leading to the evacuation of residents of the area.

Huge potholes gaped on many of the roads. For three days after the heavy rains on Sunday, two villages in Devin region were cut off from the rest of the world. In Dimitrovgrad, 11 houses were flooded.

Torrential rains fell in the region of Haskovo, 120 litres a sq.m., and in the region of Krumovgrad , 102 litres a sq.m. After the nearby dam cracked on Sunday, 17 houses were flooded in the village of Pravoslaven. This week the locals had a rare chance - they caught huge carps in their gardens and in the streets.

Measures were taken immediately to bring down the water level in the reservoir, near which 17 houses were flooded, the Civil Defence office said.

After the dam of the village overflowed, children and domestic animals were evacuated.

"The heavy rains, hailstorms and thunderstorms flooded houses, severed telephone and electricity wires, activated landslides and blocked roads across the country," the office said.

Rain was heaviest in the region of Haskovo, and in Krumovgrad. It flooded the cellars and ground floors of houses in Plovdiv, the municipality of Dimitrovgrad and Svilengrad. The damage in Plovdiv was estimated at about 1 million leva, according to Civil Defence authorities in the city. The rains caused considerable damage to vines and tobacco plantations and domestic animals drowned.

The water was bucketed out of 25 houses that were flooded in Kozlodui (Northern Bulgaria) and electricity in the town was restored later on Sunday evening.

The villages of Ostritsa near Smolyan and Krepost near Dimitrovgrad had no electricity for a day, before it was restored on Monday. Uzoundjovo and Nova Nadezhda had no phone connections for two days.

A landslide blocked the road between Assenovgrad and Smolyan. A six-metre deep pothole opened.

The roads to and from the town of Luki and the bridge between Botrov and Belitsa were submerged. Forty children from the village of Luki were saved with the help of the Ministry of Interior Affairs on Sunday after the swollen river in Krastova Gora cut them off. The road between the villages of Hrabrino and Boikovo, Lilkovo and Dedevo was also blocked because of the landslides along the road. A large hole on the E-80 highway closed down part of the road near Svilengrad.

Part of the road between Nedelino and Kraina was also destroyed by the rains. The Civil Defence office monitored potentially dangerous small dams and reservoirs. Teams from Civil Defence, Fire and Emergency Safety, Electricity Distribution, and Water and Sewerage were on duty to bring the situation in the damaged regions back to normal.