Belo Polje
White field on the Kolubara floodplain—Belo Polje survived 2014's catastrophic flooding that devastated Obrenovac while TPP Nikola Tesla stayed dry.
Belo Polje exists because "white field" describes what floodplains look like after the waters recede—chalky soil deposits left behind when the Kolubara meets the Sava. This village in Obrenovac municipality sits in the lowlands southwest of Belgrade, where Serbia's largest thermal power plant (TPP Nikola Tesla) dominates the skyline and the flood risk defines the settlement pattern.
The 2014 Southeast Europe floods made this geography lethal. A sudden surge from the Kolubara on May 15 devastated Obrenovac, killing at least 14 people and submerging 90% of local settlements. Some 8,700 residents were evacuated. Belo Polje—monitored for flooding when the Kolubara ran 1.5 meters from overflow—knows what the white field becomes when waters rise: disaster zone, then rescue mission, then reconstruction.
The Zabran forest, one of the rare autochthonous high forests remaining in the Sava-Kolubara floodplain, provides what ecological services it can: microclimate moderation, some flood absorption, relief from industrial emissions. By 2026, Belo Polje's challenge is the classic floodplain dilemma—the same alluvial fertility that attracted settlement creates the flood risk that periodically destroys it. The power plant was protected in 2014; the village was not.