Two years after the floods: strengthening resilience to climate change

Minister of Natural Resources and Spatial Planning Jože Novak

The worst natural disaster in Slovenia’s history, which struck on 4 August 2023, left a deep mark, but it also showed that, in the most difficult times, the nation is able to come together.

People and buildings

For the first time in Slovenia's history, owners of damaged homes received advance payments for urgent repairs. Over 7,350 individuals were paid a total of EUR 35.7 million to help restore their houses and apartments.

EUR 65 million in emergency financial aid was paid out to people. More than 5,000 applications from individuals and companies for building renovations are currently being processed.

This is an excellent result for this period!

Intervention and emergency measures

By June 2024, all intervention and emergency measures on 850 km of watercourses had been completed, with more than 1,000 machines and 1,500 workers deployed on the ground each day, which is an unprecedented undertaking that exceeded all anticipated capacities.

Recovery programme

Immediately after the government adopted the recovery programme, a five-year recovery process began, with all solutions required to be permanent and climate-resilient. A total of EUR 2.3 billion has been allocated for this purpose: EUR 1.3 billion for watercourses, EUR 800 million for municipal infrastructure and EUR 200 million for other measures.  

In addition, recovery programmes for other natural disasters are being implemented. The government has already secured funds – partly this year and partly in the budget for 2026 and 2027 – to complete all remediation work following natural disasters, including the 2004 earthquake in the Posočje region.

Together with municipalities, the Water Agency and other stakeholders, the boundaries of what is possible were pushed – as evidenced by the results on the ground.
Minister Jože Novak

Restoration of watercourses

Work on watercourses is carried out as maintenance, remediation and investment projects. The scope of work and funding increased more than tenfold after the floods of 4 August 2023, reaching the maximum capacity given limited resources.

In 2024, work worth EUR 240 million was completed, and in 2025, work worth EUR 332 million is expected to be completed. Much of this has already been completed, with the remaining work currently in progress.

For the repair of water infrastructure, more than 430 worksites on watercourses were completed in 2024 and by summer 2025, and remediation work is currently underway at more than 300 locations across Slovenia.

Landslides

Rehabilitation is underway on more than 100 landslides, including six major ones, which damaged municipal road infrastructure, buildings or watercourses. Many rehabilitation projects have been completed using the advance payments.

Institutional changes

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Spatial Planning has the largest scope of renovations and investments. The role of the ministry has thus changed significantly, necessitating certain organisational, legal and systemic changes, which have been implemented and are still being implemented. It was necessary to reorganise both the ministry and the Slovenian Water Agency of the Republic of Slovenia.

We acted quickly and effectively with the aim of helping people, local communities and the economy.

Ervin Vivoda, Director of the Office for Natural Disaster Recovery

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Spatial Planning oversees the restoration of municipal infrastructure, water, landslides, cultural heritage and nature conservation facilities, as well as buildings and commercial facilities.

The Government Office for Post-Flood and Landslide Reconstruction carries out activities related to replacement construction and facilities.

Natural persons

Owners of damaged homes received advance payments for urgent repairs. More than 7,350 individuals were paid EUR 35.7 million for the renovation of apartments and houses.

More than 5,000 applications for the restoration of homes and business premises are currently under review and decision. More than half of the beneficiaries have received all the necessary funds for renovation.
Ervin Vivoda

Municipalities

EUR 218 million was transferred to municipalities in the form of advance payments so that the renovation of municipal infrastructure could begin immediately.

In addition to advance payments, the ministry has already secured the following from the regular programme: EUR 25.7 million in 2024 for the renovation of municipal infrastructure (roads, bridges, landslides), and EUR 160 million this year.

A total of 150 projects are under way to repair municipal infrastructure, landslides and bridges.

Renovated roads and bridges and rehabilitated landslides have improved accessibility and safety for residents. Renovated water infrastructure facilities reduce the risk of flooding. Aid and rehabilitation efforts have helped rebuild homes, jobs and confidence in the future.

State Secretary Miran Gajšek

A total of 348 government decisions on the removal of buildings had been adopted by July 2025, and the number is still growing.

17 new spatial acts have been adopted in less than 12 months, which is record speed compared to the normal procedures for preparing municipal spatial plans. In total, 17 new spatial acts provide for up to 126 plots for buildings. Several municipalities have the option of obtaining building permits for replacement facilities in accordance with already adopted spatial plans. According to data available to the ministry, there are at least 50 suitable plots available for construction.

Spatial planning has been fully resolved in 10 municipalities (Braslovče, Celje, Cerklje na Gorenjskem, Črna na Koroškem, Dobrova – Polhov Gradec, Medvode, Polzela, Ravne na Koroškem, Solčava, Tržič).
Miran Gajšek

Another 32 new spatial acts are being drafted and will be adopted in autumn 2025. These are spatial acts introduced by emergency legislation, namely the detailed municipal spatial plan for reconstruction (DMSP) and the locational verification for reconstruction (LV).

We coordinate all activities and meet regularly with the Government Office for Post-Flood and Landslide Reconstruction.

Urška Hočevar, Acting Director of the Slovenian Water Agency

The Slovenian Water Agency responded immediately with intervention measures, and after initial difficulties, it was operating at full capacity within six months. The most intensive work was carried out on four river basins: Mura, Drava with Meža and Mislinja, Savinja and Sava with Kamniška Bistrica and Sora.

The Slovenian Water Agency carried out all intervention and emergency measures with concessionaires and numerous other contractors. We ensured the flowability of all channels. Now we are comprehensively managing and restoring watercourses to make them more resilient to climate change.

Maintenance

We have increased the scope of maintenance work, thereby also eliminating the consequences of years of inadequate maintenance of watercourses. In 2024, EUR 48 million was spent on maintenance, while maintenance projects worth EUR 52 million will be carried out in 2025.

Renovations

Renovations are being carried out in accordance with the five-year programme in the amount of EUR 1.3 billion. The Poplave 2023 web portal publishes the locations and descriptions of active, completed and planned worksites. In 2024, we implemented a remediation programme worth EUR 62 million. In 2025, work is underway at 470 sites with a total value of EUR 130 million. In parallel with the work, project documentation for more demanding watercourse restoration is already being prepared for the coming years.

Investments

This year, the Slovenian Water Agency has embarked on the largest investment cycle in its history. Investments are mainly financed by European funds through the Recovery and Resilience Plan and cohesion projects. There are currently 25 RRP projects and 5 cohesion projects under way. Work is already under way on 17 projects, with the remaining projects scheduled for construction by the end of this year.

The total value of all projects is EUR 370 million. The new investments will reduce the flood risk for almost 140,000 residents.
Urška Hočevar

The implementation of remediation measures and investments in new infrastructure on watercourses means greater flood safety for people. In this regard, it is worth highlighting and praising the exceptional commitment and professional and dedicated work of the employees of the Slovenian Water Agency, who contribute significantly to the achievement of common goals in the field of protection against the harmful effects of water.

The minister and Ministry of Natural Resources and Spatial Planning have given new impetus to water management.

State Secretary Lidija Kegljevič Zagorc

Unfortunately, the event on 4 August 2023 was not the only natural disaster in Slovenia that year. In 2023, we recorded 6 natural disasters in addition to the one on 4 August; 4 happened in 2024 and 1 has happened so far in 2025. Regardless of when these events occur, the ministry approaches them in the same way and ensures that remediations are carried out as quickly and efficiently as possible, as it is not important to those affected in which event the damage occurs. This also allows us to make advance payments to municipalities.

However, the event of 4 August 2023 was a catastrophe of such magnitude that, in terms of its scale and the complexity of dealing with its consequences, it far exceeded all other events. Such a large scope of work required a completely different approach. Our experience from previous large-scale projects and our networking and cooperation with municipalities helped us in this regard.

We have digitised and optimised all renovation procedures to the greatest extent possible and organised the National Technical Office and its branches to minimise the burden on municipalities and residents who are renovating buildings.
Lidija Kegljevič Zagorc

In order to adapt to the new circumstances, we also carried out reorganisations: we established the Office for the Mitigation of Natural Disaster Consequences and reorganised the Water Directorate and the Slovenian Water Agency, strengthening their staffing levels.

We are also very active in the field, continuing the process of optimising procedures with the help of the information and recommendations obtained. Together with the National Technical Office, we are taking a proactive approach to resolving issues and providing all the necessary assistance to municipalities and individuals. We note that the bottleneck is not administrative barriers, but limited human resources (at all levels – municipalities, designers, contractors, ministries, National Technical Office), as the scope of renovations and investments is currently extremely large.

Landslides

The event on 4 August also revealed the problem of landslides, which until then had not been adequately addressed in the Republic of Slovenia's regulations and strategic plans. We immediately took an active and systematic approach to solving the problem and managing the landslides.

The ministry is currently running six large-scale landslide rehabilitation projects with a total value of EUR 25 million. As part of the rehabilitation programme, more than 100 landslides are being rehabilitated through municipalities and the National Technical Office.

At the system level, landslide monitoring and a landslide monitoring platform are being established, as well as a system for determining landslide risk, similar to what we know from flood risk.

Lidija Globevnik, Director-General of the Water Directorate

In addition to all the activities already presented on watercourses, we are improving and strengthening the water management system, with flood risk management as one of the priority tasks. We are aware that we are among the countries most at risk of flooding in the EU. Investments in the sector will need to remain constant and sufficient in the future, which is why we will continue to activate European funds available as part of the implementation of the European Water Resilience Strategy. The strategy addresses measures for natural water retention, ecosystem restoration and strengthening the resilience of water infrastructure. We will build on the guidelines of pilot projects within the framework of the investment accelerator for water resilience, which will be established already in 2026.

We will introduce innovative approaches to natural water retention, forecasting and informing the population about flood risks using forecasting models and hydrological digital twins. We have also begun to develop these with the help of satellite technology and information environmental and spatial systems that are being developed in Slovenia.

By updating the relevant regulations, we have tightened restrictions on the construction of new buildings in flood-prone areas and introduced flood-resistant construction methods. Namely, if buildings are flood-resistant, they can also be constructed on existing building land.
Lidija Globevnik

The ministry will provide data on flood water levels in vulnerable areas. By the end of 2026, data on flood water levels and flood areas will be available for the whole of Slovenia, to support spatial planning and the design of flood-resistant structures.

Managing flood risk is not a matter of a single measure, but rather a long-term orientation, a vision of coordinated action and systemic solutions based on science, professional experience, spatial planning and cooperation with local communities. We plan measures across entire river basins and link them into an effective, responsive and resilient water management system.

Since a comprehensive approach is essential in managing watercourses, the implementation of all of the above is integrated into so-called systemically linked measures to reduce flood and erosion risks in individual river basins (SLM).

Based on knowledge of the area, hydrological and hydraulic studies, and flood events, and taking into account the impact on status of waters, the SLM are a set of mutually coordinated and interrelated measures to reduce flood and erosion risks throughout the river basin. This prevents partial treatment of individual parts of the river basin and duplication of work in watercourses.

This means that measures must be coordinated in terms of emergency measures already implemented (ensuring flowability and stabilising damaged banks), remediation (this concerns areas damaged by flooding, for which a remediation programme has been adopted) and investments (which were planned and would have been implemented even if the flood had not occurred).