Poland’s government declared a disaster in affected areas
EUROPE (AFP/REUTERS/DT/AP) – The death toll continued to rise in Central European countries on Sunday, September 15, following days of heavy rainfall that led to widespread flooding and forced evacuations. Nations such as Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland, and Romania have already experienced severe flooding.
Slovakia and Hungary may face similar challenges due to a low-pressure system from northern Italy, which has been dumping record amounts of rain in the region since Thursday. Many rivers across Central Europe have overflowed, inundating towns and causing some of the worst flooding in at least two decades.
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Polish government declared a disaster
On Monday, the Polish government declared a disaster in the affected areas and allocated $260 million to assist victims. Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced that Poland, along with other impacted countries, would seek financial aid from the European Union.
The southern Polish town of Klodzko remained submerged on Monday, following significant damage in border regions between the Czech Republic and Poland over the weekend. The surging water levels have caused bridge collapses, forced evacuations, and left a path of widespread destruction.
The floods have claimed six lives in Romania and one each in Austria and Poland. In the Czech Republic, four people who were swept away by waters were missing, police said.
Most parts of the Czech Republic have been affected as authorities declared the highest flood warnings at around 100 places across the country. But the situation was worst in two northeastern regions that recorded the biggest rainfall in recent days, including the Jeseniky mountains near the Polish border.
In the city of Opava, up to 10,000 people out of a population of around 56,000 have been asked to move to higher ground. Rescuers used boats to transport people to safety in a neighborhood flooded by the raging Opava River.
“There’s no reason to wait,” Mayor Tomáš Navrátil told Czech public radio. He said that the situation was worse than during the last devastating floods in 1997, known as the “flood of the century.”
“We have to focus on saving lives,” Prime Minister Petr Fiala told Czech public television on Sunday. His government was set to meet Monday to assess the damages. The worst ” is not behind us yet,” the prime minister warned. President Petr Pavel sounded more optimistic, saying “it’s obvious we’ve learned a lesson from the previous crisis.”
Thousands of others also were evacuated in the towns of Krnov, which was almost completely flooded, and Cesky Tesin. The Oder River that flows to Poland was reaching extreme levels in the city of Ostrava and in Bohumin, prompting evacuations. Ostrava, the regional capital, is the third-largest Czech city. Mayor Jan Dohnal said the city will face major traffic disruptions in the days to come. Almost no trains were operating in the region.
Authorities declared the entire state of Lower Austria in the northeastern part of the country a disaster zone, while 10,000 relief forces have so far evacuated 1,100 houses there. Emergency personnel have started setting up accommodation for residents who had to flee their homes due to the flooding. The municipality of Lilienfeld with about 25,000 residents is cut off from the outside world. Residents were told to boil tap water as a precaution.
The situation is particularly dangerous along the Kamp River, which flows into the Danube.
Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said the situation “continues to worsen.” He said 2,400 soldiers were ready to support the relief effort in Austria. Of those, 1,000 soldiers will deploy to the disaster zone in Lower Austria, where dams were beginning to burst.
Romania reports two more flooding victims
Romanian authorities said Sunday that another two people had died in the hard-hit eastern county of Galati after four were reported dead there a day earlier, following unprecedented rain.
In Poland, one person was presumed dead in floods in the southwest, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Sunday. Tusk said the situation was “dramatic” around the town of Klodzko, with about 25,000 residents, located in a valley in the Sudetes mountains near the border with the Czech Republic. Helicopters were used to pick up people from roofs in a few cases.
A bridge in the town collapsed under flood pressure and a police station building was knocked down in Stronie Śląskie after floodwaters burst through a dam. Submerged cars could be seen in many places in the Kłodzko Valley region bordering the Czech Republic, while a new flood wave was expected there.
In the city of Jelenia Gora, which has 75,000 residents, downtown streets were flooded after one of the embankments burst on the Bobr River. City authorities have warned residents they may need to evacuate as more flooding was moving toward the city. Energy supplies and communications were cut off in some flooded areas, and regions may resort to using the satellite-based Starlink service, Tusk said.