Disaster relief funds amounting to 1.7 million leva will be bestowed on the Kyustendil authorities, designated for the compensation of damages to infrastructure, administrative buildings and personal property in the aftermath of torrential rains and flooding in the region on November 10 2009, Dnevnik daily said.

Intense and sustained rainfall caused extensive devastation to road networks, causing bridges to collapse, resulting in flooding of arable land, destruction to farms, houses, and municipal property. Water supply networks were disrupted while electric power supply installations were damaged.

The money was poised for the urgent reconstruction and rehabilitation of the areas most affected in the region.

Road rehabilitation including the segment between the hydro electric power plant of Osogovo and the water supply and canalisation station Kyustendilska Voda would absorb 525 000 leva, while 295 000 leva would be allocated to the reconstruction of the Rusovo bridge which collapsed. A further 483 000 leva were secured for the revamping and buttressing of auxiliary roads around the Osogovo plant, while 404 500 leva would be spent on the reconstruction of the Sajdenik road.

The funds were to be provided by the disaster fund, while all reconstruction operations in the region would be supervised and managed by local Kyustendil authorities, Dnevnik said.

Heavy rains had caused mayhem and destruction in Dolno Selo, Garlyano, and Rasovo, while the situation was made worse as the Bistritsa river  over-flooded.

The downpour had caused extensive damages in a number of villages around Petrich, a town on the border with Greece in southwest Bulgaria.

A destructive sludge of water and mud had caused further landslides and damages in and around the villages of Gabrene, Yavornitsa and Klyuch.