SLOVENIA FLOODS (Syllabus: GS Paper 1 - Geography)

Context: The ongoing floods in Slovenia is the worst natural disaster the country has experienced since its independence in 1991.

• This means that the floods are worse than those that occured in 1998 and 2004, which caused widespread destruction. 
• The extreme floods caused by torrential rains in Slovenia had affected two-thirds of the country.
• Torrential Rain is any amount of rain that is considered especially heavy.

Slovenia

• Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in southern Central Europe.
• It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, and the Adriatic Sea to the southwest.
• Slovenia is mostly mountainous and forested.
• Slovenes constitute over 80% of the country's population.
• Slovene, a South Slavic language, is the official language.
• Slovenia has a predominantly temperate continental climate, with the exception of the Slovene Littoral and the Julian Alps.
• A sub-mediterranean climate reaches to the northern extensions of the Dinaric Alps that traverse the country in a northwest - southeast direction.
• The Julian Alps in the northwest have an alpine climate.
• Toward the northeastern Pannonian Basin, a continental climate is more pronounced. 
• Ljubljana, the capital and largest city of Slovenia, is geographically situated near the centre of the country.