LIPOVALZEN, Czech Republic, Sept 15 (Askume) – Heavy rain continued to lash central Europe on Sunday, causing flooding in parts of the region, drowning one person in southwestern Poland and forcing more people to cross the border into the Czech Republic.
Austrian Deputy Chancellor Werner Kogler said on the social platform
A low-pressure system named Boris brought days of torrential rain, causing rivers to swell from Poland to Romania, where four people were found dead on Saturday.
The worst floods in nearly three decades have hit parts of the Czech Republic and Poland and caused a bridge to collapse in the historic Polish town of Gluchowice near the Czech border.
More than 2.5 million homes in the Czech Republic were without power due to strong winds and rain. Czech police said they were searching for three people who were in a car that crashed into the Starice River near Lipova Lazne, 235 kilometers east of Prague, on Saturday.
One person was killed in Poland’s Kłodzko County, which Prime Minister Donald Tusk described as the worst-hit area in the country, and 1,600 people were evacuated.
“The situation is very serious,” Tusk told reporters after a meeting in the town of Klodzko on Sunday. On Sunday morning, the local river level rose to 665 centimetres, well above the danger level of 240 centimetres, and the town of Klodzko was partially submerged.
It surpassed the record set by the devastating floods of 1997, which partially damaged the Polish city and killed 56 people.
On Sunday morning, authorities in Głusiorazi, Poland’s Nysa County, ordered residents to evacuate as local river levels rose and the town lost power. Firefighters and soldiers have been working to protect the town’s infrastructure since Saturday, but have been unable to prevent the bridge from collapsing.
Local police announced plans to use helicopters to rescue people trapped in flooded homes in Nysa County.
Residents on the Czech border also said the situation was worse than previous floods.
“What you see here is worse than in 1997,” said Pavel Bily, a resident of Lipova Lazne. “I don’t know what will happen next because my house was destroyed. There was a flood and I don’t know if I will ever come back there.”
The region’s fire department said 1,900 people had been evacuated by Sunday morning, while many roads were unfit for traffic.
The Czech Meteorological Institute said the worst-hit areas received more than 100 millimetres of rain overnight, with about 450 millimetres falling since Wednesday night.
More rain is expected on Sunday and Monday.
As rain continues to fall in Hungary, Slovakia and Austria, authorities in Budapest expect the level of the Danube river to rise by more than 8.5 metres this weekend, approaching the record of 8.91 metres set in 2013.
“According to predictions, the biggest flood of last year is approaching Budapest, but we are ready to deal with it,” said Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony.
Romanian authorities said the rainfall was less intense than on Saturday, when floods killed four people and damaged 5,000 homes. Towns and villages in seven eastern Romanian counties were affected, and the country’s emergency services said they were still searching for two missing people.
