Torrential rains caused rivers to overflow across parts of Central Europe on Sunday, killing two people in Austria and Poland, forcing thousands to flee their homes and disrupting electricity and transport infrastructure.
In Poland, Prime Minister Donald Tusk confirmed the country’s first fatality from flooding during an emergency briefing in the town of Kłodzko, near the Czech border.
Tusk called the situation in southwestern Poland “drastic” and urged residents to follow local evacuation orders.
The water level of the river Nysa Kłodzka in Kłodzko was 6.65 meters on Sunday morning. The average water level is 1 meter.
According to police, the fatal victim was a man whose house was flooded in the village of Krosnovice, not far from Kłodzko.
Tusk said 1,600 people in the Kłodzko district have been brought to safety so far and he expects further evacuations.
Parts of the hardest-hit areas have experienced power outages and mobile communications networks. Residents of Kłodzko have been told to boil their tap water before drinking it.
On the other side of the border in the Czech Republic, at least four people are missing, according to authorities.
Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala called on citizens to follow the instructions of emergency services, noting that some people are refusing to follow evacuation orders and leave their homes.
“In doing so, they not only endanger themselves, but also the people who have to rescue them if the situation becomes dramatic,” he said on public broadcaster CT.
“We must take into account that the worst is not over yet,” he warned.
In the city of Opava and other border areas near Poland, thousands of people had to be evacuated from their homes as entire communities were flooded. A mudslide cut off the mountain village of Mala Upa from the outside world.
More than 250,000 Czech households were without electricity, the CTK agency reported, citing energy suppliers. Rain had softened the ground, causing numerous trees to fall onto overhead power lines and high-voltage transmission lines.
Tense scenes also took place in Austria, where a firefighter died while working in a flood-hit building in the state of Lower Austria, around the capital Vienna.
“We are going through difficult and dramatic times in Lower Austria,” said Governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner.
“For many people in Lower Austria, these will be the hardest hours of their lives,” she added. “We will do everything we can to hold back the water and protect the country and its people.”
Lower Austria was declared a disaster area after water levels in several rivers in the state rose dramatically.
In some communities north of Vienna, firefighters had to rescue people who had been trapped in their homes overnight. One person had to be rescued after driving into floodwaters on the Pielach River, west of Vienna. Firefighters are using rubber boats in some places.
The water of the River Wien, which flows through Vienna, flowed high and fast on Sunday, but in most places the meter-high walls still held out.
At least four people were killed in eastern Romania on Saturday after the eastern European country was hit by heavy rainfall, authorities said.
Train traffic in several countries was disrupted on Sunday.
Vienna’s metro lines are suffering from disruptions and the Austrian railway company ÖBB has suspended train services on a line south of the Danube.
Cross-border train connections between Poland and the Czech Republic have also been suspended.
Dam bursts in Poland and the Czech Republic
A dam in southwestern Poland, south of the city of Kłodzko, broke on Saturday night despite efforts to drain the water and prevent the flood, further increasing the impact of the flooding on the area.
The Lower Silesian Municipality of Bystrzyca Kłodzka said the dam in Międzygórze had overflowed.
The regional water authority of the city of Wrocław called the situation critical and decided to evacuate the lower villages.
The dam, built at the beginning of the 20th century in the Kłodzko Valley, is 29 meters high. The flood reservoir can hold almost a million cubic meters of water.
Since Friday morning, more rain has fallen in southwestern Poland than during the so-called Millennium Flood of 1997. The warning level has been exceeded at 47 measuring stations in the country.
In the southwest of the Czech Republic, the Husinec Dam in the foothills of the Bohemian Forest overflowed due to flooding. The highest flood warning level was reached in the city of Litomerice on the Elbe.
