Heavy rain has caused flash flooding in Bosnia prompting evacuations, causing power outages in the capital and submerging roads in some parts of the Balkan country.

Homes and businesses were flooded around Sarajevo while local roads were submerged in the south west of the country, forcing some schools to cancel classes.

Most parts of Sarajevo were left without electric power due to the flooding of one of the main substations on the outskirts of the city.

The power transmission company, Elektroprijenos, said the heavy rain was hindering attempts to get the power rerouted.

Dozens of people had to be evacuated from their homes in the Sarajevo suburbs, along the banks of the rivers Bosnia and Tilava, as well as a residential care home for elderly people and a plant filling oxygen tanks for hospitals treating Covid-19 patients.

“The situation is bad and we do not expect it to improve soon,” said Danis Memagic, a firefighter co-ordinating evacuations in the area.

Evacuations were also under way in the city of Konjic, some 50 kilometres (30 miles) south-west of the capital.

Rain started late on Thursday and forecasts say it will continue to fall until Sunday, raising fears of a repeat of record flooding that affected about a third of the population in 2014.