Four people are reported dead, more than 50 have been evacuated and several houses are damaged in the village of Bisser, southern Bulgaria, after a wall of the nearby Ivanovo dam burst on the morning of February 6 2012.

In all, floods reportedly claimed eight lives on February 6, including the four people drowned in Bisser, Bulgarian media said.
 
The deaths are the most serious incident so far in the latest round of the severe weather crisis in Bulgaria, which like much of Europe has been hit by serious snowfall, record-low temperatures and – most recently – heavy rainfall.
 
On February 6, two districts of Bulgaria were under a "Code Red" dangerous weather warning while a further 10 districts were under "Code Orange" and the rest of the country facing "Code Yellow".
 
The crisis in Bisser prompted the setting up a national crisis emergency centre, with Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov in charge.
 
According to Bulgarian National Television, Prime Minister Boiko Borissov, Tsvetanov and Agriculture and Food Minister Miroslav Naidenov went to Bisser to assess the situation there.
 
Two air force helicopters were summoned from Kroumovo base near Plovdiv to assist in the Bisser rescue operation, but Borissov spoke out angrily when it emerged that the helicopters were not equipped with anti-freezing equipment, making it dangerous to use them in the freezing weather conditions.
 
Borissov sharply criticised the up to 500 million leva (250 million euro) that he said had been spent on the helicopters when, he said, they were suitable only for flying in the desert or "going to the seaside in summer".
 
Local media said that one of the helicopters rescued two people who had been trapped in their car in the floodwaters.
 
On Borissov’s orders, the National Plan for Disaster Protection in flooding has been activated for the regions of Haskovo, Smolyan, Kurdjali and Stara Zagora, Bulgarian news agency BTA said. A National Situation Centre has been set up.
 
The regional governors have been instructed to organise control over the status of dams and continuous monitoring to allow the release of the maximum possible amount of water so as to ensure a free capacity to take the inflow.
 
Meanwhile, 300m of the E-80 road, between the Kapitan Andreevo village and the border checkpoint of the same name, was flooded by the overflowing Kalamitsa River, a tributary of the Maritsa River, the press office of the Interior Ministry said, quoted by local news agency Focus.
 
Cars were being redirected to the Lesovo border checkpoint.

The E-80 international main road via Harmanli to Haskovo was cut off, news agency Focus said. Electricity was cut off in the central part of Harmanli.

Train movement in the Radnevo - Lyubenovo area was suspended after flooding damaged a railway embankment.
 
Bulgarian National Television said at noon that four villages in the Harmanli district were cut off.
 
In the early morning of February 6, the engine of the Belgrade – Istanbul international passenger train was derailed by a landslide. None of the passengers was injured, Bulgarian news agency BTA said.
 
Bulgarian state railways BDZ said that from 8.30am on February 6, the movement of trains between the railway stations at the towns of Dimitrovgrad and Svilengrad was suspended, after the Maritsa River burst its banks.
 
The Istanbul – Belgrade international express was being held at Svilengrad railway station while its counterpart Belgrade – Istanbul express was halted in the Nova Nadezhda – Simeonovgrad area, BDZ said.

Bulgaria's Foreign Ministry said that it had alerted authorities in Greece and Turkey about water discharge from Ivailovgrad dam and the Studen Kladenets lake.