The distress call last night from Poland: We are lost
Christina Nordh
Published 2024-09-16 12.13
At least ten people have died since Boris swept across Europe.
Several people are missing in the bodies of water.
- We are lost, says the mayor of the Polish city of Wlen.
Quick version
On Thursday, storm Boris moved in over central and eastern Europe with heavy rain and strong winds. Poland, Austria, Germany, Hungary, Romania, TCzech Republic andch Slovakia are among the worst affected countries with severe flooding.
The storm is described as the worst in 50 years.
So far, at least one person has been found dead in Poland, at least six in Romania, a firefighter died in a flooded basement in Austria and several people have been swept away by the waters in the Czech Republic.
More rain is to be expected, warn meteorologists in Poland. Prime Minister Donald Tusk has declared a state of emergency in the country, including Krakow, which has been hit hard.
From the 13th-century town of Wlen in southern Poland, a dramatic distress call came Sunday night from mayor Artur Zych for help to strengthen the levees against the rushing water. At two o'clock he was forced to state that the fight was lost.
- Water poured over the levees behind the Elizabethan Sisters Center. It will slowly flood the city. Unfortunately, we cannot stop it, he tells the Polish newspaper Wyborcza.
Tens of thousands in Poland and the Czech Republic have been forced to abandon their homes threatened by bodies of water, some of them evacuated by helicopter.
On Monday, the city of Opole, with 130,000 inhabitants, and the city of Wroclaw, with almost 650,000 inhabitants, were threatened by the water masses, writes the AFP news agency.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk called an emergency cabinet meeting, where they agreed on a support package for the victims valued at one billion zlotys (roughly SEK 2.6 billion).
The high-risk rescue service has made over 1,300 calls per day during Saturday and Sunday. At its worst there were two alarms a minute.
Train traffic is partially at a standstill and in the capital Vienna, traffic on several tunnel lines has been suspended. There is no forecast for when traffic may return to normal.
24 localities in the country have been declared disaster areas, including the whole of Lower Austria in the north-eastern part of the country. Some houses can only be reached by boat.
Several of the country's regions have received more rain on Saturday and Sunday than a normal September.
- We are experiencing difficult, dramatic hours in Lower Austria. For many Lower Austrians, these will be the most difficult hours of their lives, says the head of the federal government Johanna Miki-Leitner (ÖVP) to die Welt.
The mighty river Danube has flooded in several places, it has caused several cruise ships to be stopped in Vienna. Among them the ship "Thurgau Prestige". The approximately one hundred passengers and around 40 crewmen are not allowed to leave the ship.
Even down towards Romania, the Danube has overflowed its banks. In Bavaria, the river is expected to reach more than seven meters above normal water level. However, the worst rain has already fallen there, writes Süddeutsche Zeitung.
- We are once again facing the effects of climate change, which is becoming increasingly present on the European continent, with dramatic consequences, says the country's president Klaus Iohannis in a comment.
The Thaya River, about seven miles north of the Danube, has also exceeded the limit of a hundred-year flood, which means that the level is higher than one would statistically expect for floods that occur once every hundred years.
During Monday, another 50–60 mm of rain is expected in the Czech Republic and Austria.
The amount of rain in the Czech Republic has reached close to 500 mm since Wednesday. A normal annual amount of precipitation is 686 mm.
In the Czech town of Opava, the river has overflowed and more than 10,000 residents, every fifth person, have been evacuated.
Flooded backyard in southwestern Poland.
1 / 2Photo: Krzysztof Zatycki / AP
On Saturday, four people were found dead in the Galati region of southeastern Romania, where 5,000 homes were damaged by the rain, two more people were confirmed dead there on Sunday.
- This is a disaster of epic proportions, says Emil Dragomir, the mayor of the Romanian village of Slobozia Conachi where 700 homes were flooded.
In Slovakia, there is also a state of emergency, including in the capital Bratislava.
In Germany, the water in the Elbe is expected to continue to rise for several days, writes the German Die Welt. On the border with the Czech Republic, the level during Monday morning had exceeded level three out of four. The water level was then 6.03 meters.
In Hungary, Prime Minister Orbán announced that he must stay at home in Budapest to deal with the disaster. Despite the fact that Hungary is currently the EU chairman, he will therefore be absent from meetings in Strasbourg on Tuesday and Wednesday, writes TT.
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, signed the X to those affected by the floods:
- My thoughts go out to the victims and their families. Thanks to everyone who helps in their tireless work. The EU is ready to support.
Red warnings for rain and snow are still in place in several European countries.
In Austria, parliamentary elections await later in September. In one picture you can see election posters, half submerged. "Choose the climate" is written on one of them.
According to the EEA, European environment agency, climate change is contributing to the fact that this type of extreme downpours and storms will hit Europe more and more often. This is because warm air can hold more water vapor than cold air, which creates conditions for more intense rain.
Inga kommentarer:
Skicka en kommentar