Nature can be unpredictable and merciless, and easily turns the world upside down in a flash. The weather disaster at the beginning of August earlier this year was a strong reminder of how destructive it can be, as Slovenia was hit by flash floods and landslides following torrential rain over most of the country. The flooding inundated homes and floated cars, unleashing heavy property damage. Road and other infrastructure was his particularly bad, and many lost their homes. Some regions were cut off as roads and train connections were shut by the rising floodwater and landslides. Efforts to help the communities recover from the disaster were also joined by Slovenske železnice.
Despite substantial damage to rail infrastructure, the infrastructure manager SŽ – Infrastruktura did not hesitate to put people first, donating rails and concrete sleepers to affected regions to aid the rebuilding efforts. As many as 3900 pieces of sleepers and over 36.000m of rails were given away at the time of this news article. Depending on their purpose, rails were cut into different lengths by Slovenske železnice labourers before hauled away on trucks to the designated areas. Cutting and loading the rails took more than 2000 hours of labour. With this display of solidarity, SŽ – Infrastruktura helped speed up the efforts to rebuild the infrastructure across the country.
The municipalities most affected by the floods, which received much needed material from SŽ – Infrastruktura.
The communities accepted the donated material with gratitude. In their eyes, the disaster showed that – contrary to popular Slovenian belief that Slovenians have no regard for another’s plight – we are more than able to show empathy to those hit by misfortune and rally to offer assistance. Everyone helped in ways they are able to, and every municipality contributed to alleviating the difficulty of recovery in the aftermath of unprecedented floods. »Thank you so much for your [Slovenske železnice’s] generous contribution and assistance to fellow members of the community who were struck the hardest by the weather disaster,« said one of the letters of gratitude received by SŽ – Infrastruktura.
A number of photos were sent to show how the materials were used.
