More than 1,000 acres of fruitful land today is under water in the Pelagonija Municipality of Novaci after the level of river Crna in this section reached a whopping 4.84 meters this morning. Yesterday evening, Municipality of Novaci had to intervene at several critical areas of the bridge over the river Crna, near the monastery “Presveta Bogorodica” to the dam of REK Bitola, from which the plant is supplied with water in case of fire, confirms Mayor of Novaci Laze Kotevski. Also, defense line of embankments and pads is placed near the most vulnerable houses in villages Gneotino, Dolno and Gorno Aglarci, as well as the village Novaci.
– The waters of river Crna are flooding with increasing intensity and the situation on the riverbank, near the bridge before village Novaci, and the dam of REK Bitola, from where the plant draws water, is critical. Yesterday evening, machinery was used to intervene, pads were placed, the riverbank was filled – says Mayor of Novaci Kotevski.
Last night in this municipality, Minister of Agriculture Mihail Cvetkov visited the area, so Kotevski said that they already agreed the Government to help in cleaning river Crna with mechanization, as a solution to the flood.
– Ministry of Agriculture and we, as a local authority, see the solution for the more frequent floods of fertile Pelagonija in cleaning the riverbed of Crna in length of 50 km. They will send two machines that would be operated by crews from water management company “Bitolsko pole” – says Kotevski.
Also, the Ministry and the municipality agreed that it would be good for the citizens to have an opportunity to voluntarily cut down trees that are grown on the course of the river Crna free of charge.
– Vegetation of river Crna, as well as other smaller rivers, is large, so we decided to allow the locals to cut down trees for free, just to help us clean the bed. We believe that without the large trees, the riverbed of Crna would be increased by even 25 percent. At the same time, we have people who are volunteering to clean Eleshka Reka – said Kotevski.