"We will need patience and dialogue to convince people that certain measures are necessary because of the changing nature," the president noted.

"The damage is increasing by the day. We have to take practical and strategic measures to improve the already exceptional relief efforts," he added.

The continuous rain has caused the waters on the karst field Planinsko polje to rise to levels unheard of in the past 100 years, leaving villages in the area in danger of being cut off from the world.

While the rising waters have slowed down, the weather forecast is not good and the waters will continue to rise until the end of the week, according to president of the Postojna Fire Department Marko Simšič.

He moreover explained that even a centimetre of water in the 1,100 hectares of flooded land meant enormous quantities of water that would stay there well into the spring.

The Slovenian Armed Forces have already joined relief efforts, bringing boats to the area and setting up sandbags.

The heavy rain of the past few weeks has cause trouble in other parts of the country as well.

Among others, authorities are inspecting the Slano blato landslide near the town of Ajdovščina (SW), which has recently started moving towards the Lokavec village after years of stagnancy, while the coastal municipality of Koper has given EUR 90,000 to shore up a rockfall above Bezovica near Črni kal.