As already reported, the cyclone has brought strong winds and unusually heavy rains to parts of Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia since Thursday. Five people died in the floods in Romania.
One person died in Poland, and four people went missing in the Czech Republic. In Austria, one firefighter lost his life in a flooded building during work.
In the Czech Republic, meteorologists have warned that the situation may worsen, as the water level in most rivers continues to rise, and new heavy rains are possible on Monday night.
Czech authorities have issued the highest flood warning in almost 90 places across the country, including two northeastern regions where it has rained the heaviest in recent days.
In Opava, almost 10,000 of the city’s 56,000 residents have been ordered to evacuate. Rescuers used boats to take people to safer places. The city has been flooded by the river Opava. The mayor of the city warned that the situation is more dangerous than the floods that hit the Czech Republic in 1997. At the time, they were called the flood of the century.
Thousands of people were also evacuated in Krnov and Český Tešín. Water in the Oder River, which flows into Poland, can reach extreme levels in Ostrava and Bochumín.
In the Jeseníka region, mountain villages were flooded, including Jeseníka, which were cut off from the outside world by the floods. The army has sent a helicopter there to help evacuate people.
Four people are missing in the Czech Republic, who were washed away by flood waters.
As of Sunday morning, approximately 260,000 households remained without electricity in the Czech Republic. Roads are closed in many parts of the country, including highway D1.
About 100,000 firefighters have been mobilized in the Czech Republic.
Poland is also experiencing dramatic floods. One person died in the floods in Poland, Prime Minister Donald Tusk confirmed today. Thousands of people have been ordered to evacuate.
Tusk said the situation in Klodzko, in southwestern Poland, was dramatic. Gluholazi is also flooded.
Power supply and communications have been disrupted in several flooded areas, but the regions can use the services of the Starlink satellite internet system, Tusk said.
The Polish railway company PKP has suspended train traffic with the Czech Republic due to the floods. In Poland, the Golkovice border crossing point with the Czech Republic was closed, as well as several roads were closed and train traffic on the line connecting Prudnik and Nis was suspended.
“We are once again facing the consequences of climate change, which is increasingly affecting the European continent,” said Romanian President Klaus Iohannis.
In Romania, four people who died in floods were found on Saturday during a search and rescue operation in the southeastern Galaci region, where floods have damaged around 5,000 houses. Today it was announced that another dead person was found in Galaci. Romanian rescue services reported that hundreds of people were rescued in 19 districts of the country.
In Austria, on Sunday morning, railway traffic was suspended in the east of the country and several metro lines were closed in the capital Vienna, where the Vienna River threatened to overflow its banks, APA reported.
In Lower Austria, the emergency services were called almost 5,000 times during the night due to flooding. One firefighter lost his life while pumping water from the basement into the field.
In Austria, the railway company OBB has suspended train traffic on the line south of the Danube.
Slovakia has declared a state of emergency in the capital Bratislava.
Wind gusts reached 40.5 meters per second in southern Austria. Snow has halted traffic in Austria’s western mountain areas and rescue services are searching for a man believed to be missing after an avalanche.
In Tyrol, a snow cover up to a meter thick has fallen in places, which is atypical for mid-September. Part of northeastern Austria has been declared a natural disaster zone.
2024-09-15 20:01:29