At least 15 people have died from Austria to Romania and four are missing in the Czech Republic as Cyclone Boris brings floods to central and eastern Europe. Tens of thousands have been left without power. The Austrian province around Vienna has been declared a disaster area.
ICTV Factstalk about the consequences of devastating floods in Europe.
Strong winds and heavy rains have been raging in Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia since Thursday.
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Flooding in Austria
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On Sunday, Austrian Vice Chancellor Werner Kogler reported that one rescuer had died due to flooding in Lower Austria. The province surrounding Vienna has been declared a disaster area by local authorities.
In parts of Tyrol, a federal state in western Austria, up to a metre of snow has fallen – an exceptional situation for mid-September. Last week, temperatures were still above 30°C.
On Sunday, rail traffic was stopped in eastern Austria. Due to flooding in Vienna, the Vienna subway lines U3, U4 and U6 are only operating with restrictions. Residents were evacuated from their homes in the Penzing district of Vienna, writes Der Standard. There was a threat of the Danube River overflowing its banks.
Due to flooding in Lower Austria, many residents were locked and cut off in their homes. Since Friday, rescuers have been on 150 trips to Vienna to clear roads littered with rubbish and pump water out of basements.
Flooding in Poland
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said a man had drowned in the Kłodzko area and around 1,600 people had been evacuated from the city. Southwestern Poland has been hit hardest by the floods. The water level in a local river had risen to 6.7 metres (22.5 feet) on Sunday, well above the 2.4 metre (8.5 feet) warning level, although it has since receded slightly.
In 1997, a flood partially destroyed the town of Kłodzko and claimed 56 lives.
Poland also closed the Gołkowice border crossing with the Czech Republic after the Olza River burst its banks. The Poles closed several roads and stopped train traffic on the line connecting the cities of Prudnik and Nysa.
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The Prime Minister indicated that a detailed list of districts and communes where a state of emergency has been declared will be provided in Wroclaw, where a meeting of the crisis headquarters is to begin soon. According to Donald Tusk, the government has set aside a reserve of one billion zlotys for places and people affected by the floods, Polsatnews reports.
Flooding in the Czech Republic
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Police in the Czech Republic are searching for three people in a car that fell into the Staric River near the village of Lipova Lazne, 235 km east of Prague, on Saturday. Another person is missing after flooding in the southeast of the country. Since Wednesday, the amount of rain in the Lipova Lazne area has reached 500 mm.
The high water damaged several houses, carrying debris with the current.
— We don't know what will happen next. The Internet is down, the phones are down… We are waiting for someone to come to the rescue, — said Mirek Burianek, a resident of Jeseník.
Lipova Lázně resident Pavel Bíly noted that the current flood is worse than in 1997: My house is under water, and I don’t know if I’ll return to it.
Local rescue services evacuated people trapped in the Lipova Lazne area by helicopter. Czech police urged people to heed evacuation warnings: Police and firefighters know what they are doing and why they are doing it. The situation is changing rapidly and we cannot be everywhere at once. The only way to evacuate is by helicopter.
Over 10,000 people have been evacuated across the country.
Flooding in Hungary
In the Hungarian capital Budapest, authorities have warned that the water level in the Danube River will rise by more than 8.5 meters in the second half of the week. And this is close to the record of 2013, when the water in the river rose by 8.91 meters.
— According to forecasts, one of the largest floods in recent years is approaching Budapest, but we are ready to overcome it, — Budapest Mayor Gergely Karacsony said.
Flooding in Romania
Flooding in Romania has caused power outages in about 11,000 homes.
Six people have died in floods in southeastern Romania over the past two days. In the worst-hit region, Galati, 5,000 homes were damaged and 700 were flooded.
Romanian President Klaus Iohannis said: We are once again facing the consequences of climate change, which are increasingly evident on the European continent and are leading to dramatic consequences.
Flooding in Germany
According to the Tagesschau newspaper, water levels are rising in eastern Germany, but overall the situation in the country is relatively calm.
A state of emergency has been declared in the capital of Slovakia, Bratislava position.
