Macedonia declared a state of emergency in its capital, Skopje, and neighbouring districts on Sunday, a day after at least 21 people were killed in flash floods caused by a storm.
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The authorities said they were searching for several missing people.
Some were trapped in their cars and drowned, reports said. Authorities said more than 1,000 people had been evacuated so far.
The Mayor of Skopje, Kove Trajanovski, said: “This is a disaster”.
Hundreds of homes and vehicles have been destroyed by the floods.
The worst hit areas were villages outside of the capital including Aracinovo, Singelic, Smilkovci and Stajkovci.
The subsequent floods reached as high as 1.5 metres (five feet) in some areas. “We have never experienced such a thing”.
Although the rain stopped on Sunday evening, the streets in the worst affected villages remain filled with cars and furniture carried out of the houses by the water, and many areas were still without electricity yesterday, Reuters reported.
“There were thunderbolts with lightning nearly every second”. Meteorologists said more torrential rain and strong winds were expected late last night.
Additional rain will target Macedonia early this week after heavy thunderstorms caused the deaths of at least 20 people due to flooding on Saturday night.
Health Minister Nikola Todorov said the death toll could soon rise.
On Sunday the government declared a 15-day state of emergency and a one-off financial aid of 300,000 denars ($5,400/4,900 euro) to the families of the victims, it said in a statement.
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Further north in Croatia, stormy winds have disrupted road and sea traffic at the height of the tourist season.
