Burgas has cleared 39,250 metres of riverbeds, ravines and drainage channels ahead of the autumn rains, the council says. Work will carry on as planned until the end of November.
Crews are using specialist machinery for the job, with diggers brought in where plants and bushes grow thickest. In spots that are hard to reach, prisoners are clearing the channels and ravines by hand.
Rivers and ravines that pose the biggest flood risk to towns and villages are cleared first. The council says it picks stretches based on how bad the damage from heavy rain could be.
Machines have already worked on the Severno ravine in the Lozovo district, the Chernitsite area near the village of Marinka, and the stretch of the Otmanliyska river between the Strandzha lodge and the monitoring station. Crews have also cleared the Izgrevsko ravine near the "Fifth Kilometre" area and the drainage channel behind the SOMAT depot, along with work in the Dolno Ezerovo, Cherno More and Rudnik districts.
Riverbeds and ravines have been cleared by hand in the Cherno More, Rudnik, Banevo, Sarafovo, Vetren, Lozovo and Dolno Ezerovo districts, as well as in the villages of Bryastovets, Draganovo, Izvorishte and Miroloubovo. Work has also been done in the town of Bulgarovo, the villages of Ravnets, Bratovo and Marinka, and the fishing settlement of Chengene Skele.
Many of the channels run past industrial areas and homes. The aim is to let water drain away more easily and stop flooding and serious accidents when heavy rain hits, the council says.