Severe floods in Central Europe turn deadly in Poland and Austria - 17 killed, mass evacuations underway (UPDATE)

Euronews
Sun, 15 Sep 2024 12:53 UTC

© Petr David Josek

The Bela River flows past homes during floods in Mikulovice, Czech Republic, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024.

A firefighter has died during a flood rescue in Austria, one person has died in Poland and four are missing in Czech Republic, police say.

Storm Boris has swept by central and eastern Europe with rainfall raising river levels and causing flash floods in dozens of areas in the Czech Republic, Austria and Poland.

In Poland, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Sunday morning, "We have the first confirmed death by drowning, in the Klodzko region" on the Polish-Czech border.

Following the heavy rainfall Międzygórze dam in south-western Poland has overflowed. One photo posted on X showed the dam before the floods - and a video posted by Polish TV showed it overflowing overnight.

Poland's southwest has been hit the hardest forcing around 1,600 people of the town of Klodzko to evacuate. Polish authorities call in the army to support overwhelmed firefighters with rescue operations - the fire department posted this photo on X of one of its fire trucks caught up in the floods.

On Saturday, Polish authorities shut the Golkowice border crossing with the Czech Republic after a river flooded its banks, also affecting the train line linking the towns of Prudnik and Nysa.

Czech Republic

Also on Sunday morning, in the Czech Republic, police confirmed that four people remained missing. According to local media, one man was swept away by floods in the southeast, whilst three people were in a car when it was carried away into a river in the north-eastern town of Lipova-Lazne.

More than 260,000 households woke up without power according to the Czech power companies ČEZ and E.ON. The eastern region of Moravian-Silesia endured the worst power-cut, as 114,000 customers were affected.

Thousands have been evacuated in the Moravian-Silesian region. In Krnov large parts of the town, including the centre, were underwater. "We won't know the extent of the damage until daylight, but there are no reports of injuries or casualties," said city spokesperson Dita Círová. The Opava River has risen from one metre to nearly five metres, with a third-level flood alert in effect.

On Saturday, in the second biggest city Brno, more than 180 patients were evacuated from the Brothers of Mercy Hospital to other facilities, according to the hospital management.

Strong winds caused trees and branches to fall onto power lines downing several utility poles.

Several towns and villages have been affected, including the village of Mikulovice in the north-east, which hosts around 2,500 inhabitants and has seen its houses and roads flooded.

According to local media, firefighters have responded to nearly 6,000 incidents in the last three days, severely impacting road and rail transportation. About 40 sections of railway tracks, especially in the Jesenicko area, are closed due to flooding, with the main Prague-Ostrava rail corridor at Studénka station heavily affected.

Austria

A firefighter involved in a rescue operation in Lower Austria was killed, Austrian Vice Chancellor Werner Kogler announced on social platform X on Sunday. Authorities have declared the province, which surrounds Vienna and borders the Czech Republic and Slovakia, a disaster area.

Romania

Emergency authorities reported on Saturday that four people in eastern Romania were found dead after torrential storms brought unprecedented rainfall, stranding hundreds in flooded areas.

Rescue services rushed to assist people in the severely impacted eastern counties of Galati and Vaslui. According to the Department for Emergency Situations, the bodies of three elderly women and one man were discovered in four different localities.

Comment: Update September 16

Global News reports:

Heavy rains and floods have hit large swaths of Central Europe, with authorities urging people to follow emergency evacuation orders.

At least 17 people are dead across Central Europe from the floods, according to Reuters. Poland and the Czech Republic are especially hard-hit. While the floodwaters are receding in some areas, others are still bracing as rivers rise and residents of some of the regions already hit in Poland are describing the damage.

Polish resident Szymon Krzysztan, 16, standing in the town square of Ladek Zdroj, described losses from the floods as "unimaginable."

"It's a city like in an apocalypse. ... It's a ghost town," Krzystan told Reuters.

Jerzy Adamczyk, 70, told Reuters the scene was like "Armeggedon."

"It literally ripped out everything because we don't have a single bridge," Adamczyk said. "In Ladek, all bridges have disappeared. We are practically cut off from the world."

Flood conditions were seen in 207 locations across the Czech Republic, Prime Minister Petr Fiala said in a post on social media.

"Evacuations are underway in Opava, Krnov, Ostrava, Jeseník, Frýdlantsk and other places. Over 12,000 people were evacuated. A state of danger was declared in Frýdlantska," Fiala said on X, adding that firefighters had intervened in 7,884 incidents since the floods began.

Fiala visited the town of Jesenik, one of the hardest hit places, and said the worst was behind them. In his social media post, he said the rain had decreased on Sunday evening and weakened temporarily.

Mass evacuations are underway across the region. Fiala urged people in the Czech Republic to listen to instructions from their mayors and local authorities.

"The situation is really dangerous and cannot be underestimated. Unfortunately, we encounter cases where people refuse to evacuate. Then there are problems and situations that are very difficult to solve. I also ask everyone not to take unnecessary risks," he said in the post.

Following an emergency government meeting, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced a state of natural disaster in the flooded areas to facilitate evacuation and rescue operations, as well as to expedite financial support for the victims.

Tusk told a news conference that the Finance Ministry has so far earmarked 1 billion zlotys (US$258,000) for immediate payouts.

Water levels have subsided, leaving streets covered in debris and mud, damaged bridges and some burst dams and embankments. Schools and offices in the affected areas were closed Monday and drinking water and food were being delivered by trucks. Many Polish cities, including Warsaw, have called for food donations for flood survivors.

Experts are warning of a flood threat in Opole, a city of some 130,000 residents, where the Oder River has reached high levels and started bursting its banks at some points. Concerns have also been raised in the city of Wroclaw, home to about 640,000 residents, where the flooding was expected on Wednesday. The city suffered a disastrous flood in 1997 and the trauma is still present there.

In Hungary, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán cancelled his planned foreign engagements.

The mayor of Budapest warned residents close to the Danube of rising water levels and of road and public transit closures in the area.

"According to the latest forecasts, the water level of the Danube will rise by one metre per day from Monday," Mayor Gergely Karácson said in a Facebook post.

He added that a parking ban was in place in low-lying areas near the Danube, with the city using sandbags to curtail the flooding.

Five found dead after torrential rain floods areas of Romania