NEW YORK, Poland/Ostrava, Czech Republic, Sept 17 (Askume) – The historic Polish city of Wroclaw prepared buses for possible evacuations on Tuesday and zoos called on volunteers to save animals from the effects of rising water levels as three days of devastating floods took their toll.
Rivers are still overflowing in the Czech Republic, the Danube River is rising in Hungary and parts of Austria and Romania are also flooded.
The Czech-Polish border region has been one of the worst-hit areas since the weekend , where raging, debris-laden rivers have devastated historic towns, collapsed bridges and destroyed homes.
Seven people died in flooding in Romania, which has eased over the weekend, and six people died in Poland, five in Austria and three in the Czech Republic. Thousands of Czech and Polish families remain without electricity or fresh water.
Wrocław prepares for peak water levels along the Oder River.
“If evacuation is necessary, we will provide buses,” Wroclaw Mayor Jacek Sutlik said at a crisis meeting. “Today we will further strengthen embankments in the Oder river basin.”
The city’s zoo called for volunteers to help pack sandbags to protect animal enclosures, and staff and volunteers began moving some of the 450,000 books from the city’s cathedral archives to the upper floors of the Archdiocesan Archives building.
Polish authorities have filled 80% of a huge reservoir near the Czech border in an effort to lower water levels and prevent simultaneous peaks in the Oder and Nysa rivers, as happened during the devastating 1997 floods in Wroclaw.
“Conditions of War”
Overnight, volunteers helped rescue workers lift sandbags and repair broken embankments around Nysa, a city of more than 40,000 people in southwestern Poland.
State fire chief Mariusz Fertinowski said on Tuesday that the Nysa embankment had been blocked and military helicopters had joined the operation to drop sandbags.
Despite assurances from Prime Minister Donald Tusk that authorities would act “ruthlessly” against looters, some residents returned on Monday after being evacuated to check whether their homes were safe.
“(They) assured us that the services will take care of our belongings and belongings. But we are scared … because we heard that looters have become active,” Nysa resident Sabina Jakubowska, 45, told Askume.
In the neighbouring Czech Republic, Governor Josef Belica said 15,000 people had been evacuated in the northeastern Moravia-Silesia region, one of the two worst-hit areas. Helicopters were delivering aid to areas cut off by floods.
Michael Marianek, director of a nursing home in the regional capital Ostrava, told Askume that staff had moved residents to higher floors for two nights and were caring for them without electricity.
“In case of fighting we manage temporary menus etc,” he said, adding that residents were now being moved to other homes.
Credit rating agency Morningstar DBRS estimates that flooding in central Europe will cause losses ranging from a few hundred million euros to more than 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion).
But Belica said the damage in his region alone would amount to tens of billions of kronas (more than $1 billion). The Czech Insurance Association said a preliminary estimate of flood damage to insured properties was 17 billion crowns ($753 million).
In Hungary, authorities have built mobile dams to prepare for Danube flooding in the historic towns of Visegrad and Szentendre, north of Budapest.
Budapest is preparing for water levels to reach record highs and has closed Margaret Island, a leisure area with hotels and restaurants.
Water officials said they were still considering whether to open an emergency reservoir to protect the town of Mosonmajaróvár in northwestern Hungary, on the border with Austria, as the Lesa river was expected to reach its highest level ever.
Slovak Environment Minister Tomas Taraba said the Danube reached a maximum water level of about 10 metres overnight and would now slowly recede. He said flooding across the country was estimated to cause 20 million euros in damage.
