A firefighter has died during a flood rescue in Austria, one person has died in Poland and five have died in Romania, police say.
ADVERTISEMENTThe death toll was rising in Central European countries on Sunday after days of heavy rains caused widespread flooding and forced mass evacuations.
Several Central European nations have already been hit by severe flooding, including Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland and Romania, while Slovakia and Hungary might come next, as a result of a low pressure system from northern Italy dumping record rainfall in the region since Thursday.
The floods have claimed five lives in Romania, one each in Austria and Poland. In the Czech Republic, four people who were swept away by waters were missing, police said.
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.
A dam burst above the town of Stronie Śląskie in Lower Silesia, sending great volumes of water cascading through the streets.
Poland's fire departments posted video on X of people in difficulty in flooded streets.
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 also posted this photo on X of one of its fire trucks caught up in the floods in the town of Stronie Slaskie.
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
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 leave their homes for higher ground. Rescuers used boats to transport people to safety in a neighbourhood flooded by the raging Opava River.
“There’s no reason to wait,” Mayor TomáÅ¡ 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 as the flooding made its way through the country.
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 mass evacuations.
ADVERTISEMENTOstrava, the regional capital is the third-largest Czech city. Its mayor, Jan Dohnal, said the city is facing major traffic disruptions in the days to come. Almost no trains were operating in the region.
Towns and villages in the Jeseniky mountains, including the local center of Jesenik, were inundated and isolated by raging waters that turned roads into rivers. The military sent a helicopter to help with evacuations.
Jesenik mayor Zdenka Blistanova told Czech public television that several houses in her and other nearby towns have been destroyed by the floods. A number of bridges and roads have been also badly damaged.
About 260,000 households were without power Sunday morning in the entire country, while traffic was halted on many roads, including the major D1 highway.
ADVERTISEMENT
Austria
A firefighter died after “slipping on stairs” while pumping out a flooded basement in the town of Tulln, the head of the fire department of Lower Austria Dietmar Fahrafellner told reporters on Sunday.
Authorities declared the entire state of Lower Austria a disaster zone, while emergency personnel have so far evacuated 1,100 houses there.
“We are experiencing difficult and dramatic hours in Lower Austria. For many people in Lower Austria these will probably be the most difficult hours of their lives,” said Johanna Mikl-Leitner, the governor of Lower Austria.
Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer, who was on his way to the disaster zone in Lower Austria, said that 2,400 soldiers were ready to support the relief effort.
ADVERTISEMENTIn Vienna, the Wien River overflowed its banks, flooding homes and forcing first evacuations of houses in the river’s proximity.
Romania
Romanian authorities said Sunday that another person had died in the hard-hit eastern county of Galati after four were reported dead there a day before, following unprecedented rain.
Rescue services rushed to assist people in the severely impacted eastern counties of Galati and Vaslui. On Saturday the Department for Emergency Situations said the bodies of three elderly women and one man were discovered in four different localities.