Lake Ohrid in Macedonia is overflowing, inundating some parts of the city, reports on February 19 2010 said.
 
The city’s mayor earlier asked the government in Skopje for help, Bulgarian news agency Focus said.
 
The archeological excavations close to Saint Sofia church were said to be in danger and a bridge was reported to be underwater.
 
Heavy rains and melting snow have caused flood problems in recent days in Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey and Macedonia.
 
On February 19, the level of Bulgaria’s Tundzha River was reported to be going down but it was not yet possible to start pumping water out of flooded buildings in the south-eastern town of Elhovo, the Interior Ministry said.
 
In the five days since Elhovo was hit by floods, more than 150 houses have been inundated, Bulgarian National Television said.
 
In the district around Varna on Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast, the Ticha reservoir was said to be reaching capacity and plans were to sluice water out of it on February 19, which was expected to raise the level of the Kamchiya River which flows into the Black Sea south of Varna.
 
In Bourgas on the Black Sea, a dyke of a reservoir was being reinforced to reduce the risk of flooding from Vaya lake.
 
Some farmland near Rousse on the Danube was reported to have been flooded.
 
Weather forecasters in Bulgaria said that February 19 would see mainly cloudy weather, with rain at Vidin and Lom in the evening, with a relatively warm day for Sofia, maximum 12 deg C. Temperatures for February 20 were also expected to be relatively high for the season, in places in eastern Bulgaria up to 20 deg, but with rain in several places across the country.
 
Rain was expected in several places on February 21. In Greece and Turkey, where some problems have been created by Bulgaria releasing water from its swollen dams and reservoirs, February 19 was forecast to be mainly dry, with rain predicted for Turkey on February 20.