BELGRADE, Serbia, April 7 (UPI) -- Serbian authorities increased emergency measures to cope with floodwaters of the Danube River spreading across north Serbia.
The Danube's flood stage reached 23.4 feet Friday at Bezdan, some 5 miles south of the Serbian-Hungarian border. That was the same level it reached in August 2002 when the river inundated vast sections of the area, the Beta news agency reported.
Authorities declared a state of emergency in Vojvodina province, north of Belgrade, as the Danube and Tisa rivers flooded villages and farmland south of the Serbian-Hungarian border.
The Danube, swollen by heavy rains and melting snow in central Europe, has flooded areas from Hungary southward, threatening Novi Sad, Serbia's second-largest city.
Officials of the national water service said the river was expected to crest at Novi Sad on Monday at a height of 23.6 feet.
The record crest for the Danube is 25.5 feet in 1965 when Novi Sad suffered considerable flood damage.
