Belgrade, 20 July 2023 (dpa/MIA) - Five people were killed and dozens were injured in severe storms that swept Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia on Wednesday, causing major damage, according to local media reports Thursday.

Two people were killed in the Croatian capital Zagreb and two others in other parts of the country, Croatian television HRT reported.

They were identified as a 50-year-old pedestrian and a 48-year-old car driver, the police in Zagreb said.

A woman also died in northern Bosnia. In Serbia, the storm triggered more than 200 firefighting operations.

In Zagreb, hurricane-force winds blew through the city in the afternoon hours of Wednesday. Media reports spoke of wind gusts of up to 180 kilometres per hour in Croatia. They tore out trees, damaged roofs and brought traffic to a standstill.

In Cernik, 150 kilometres east of Zagreb, a 40-year-old man was killed in his car by a falling tree. In Tovarnik, right on the border with Serbia, a firefighter had a fatal accident during clean-up work.

Across Croatia, more than 100 people suffered injuries, 60 in Zagreb alone, the jutarnji.hr news portal reported on Thursday morning.

A woman died in the yard of her house in the northern Bosnian town of Brcko. At first it was not clear whether she was struck by lightning or died as a result of handling a cable, the Bosnian news portal klix.ba reported, citing the head of the local health department.

In the evening hours of Wednesday, the storm moved on to Serbia. Fire brigades carried out more than 200 operations and brought 18 people to safety, the Beta news agency reported, citing the Interior Ministry.

The authorities closed Belgrade airport for several hours on Wednesday evening for safety reasons.