The floods of Central Europe leave a trail of destruction

2024-09-18 07:43:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Volunteers and emergency workers worked to secure riverbanks in Poland's historic city of Wroclaw on Tuesday, as nearby municipalities advised residents to evacuate and authorities across central Europe counted the cost of floods that have wreaked havoc and killed at least 22 people.

The floods have left a trail of destruction from Romania to Poland. While the waters were receding in many areas, others were nervously waiting for the rivers to break their banks.

Areas along the Czech-Polish border were among the worst hit since the weekend, as debris-filled rivers ravaged historic towns, toppling bridges and destroying homes.

Flooding has killed seven people in Romania, where the waters have receded since the weekend. Seven were dead in Poland, five in Austria and three in the Czech Republic. Tens of thousands of Czech and Polish families were left without power or drinking water.

Wroclaw, Poland's third largest city, prepared for peak water along the Oder and Bystrzyca rivers. Authorities in the Katy Wroclawskie district, southwest of Wroclaw, recommended that residents of some of the district's municipalities be evacuated. In a northern suburb, 44-year-old IT programmer Michal Nakiewicz was among dozens of volunteers helping emergency services stack sandbags on the Bystrzyca coast.

Wroclaw Zoo called for volunteers to help pack sandbags to protect the animals' habitats, as staff and volunteers began moving some of the 450,000 books from the city's main church archive to the higher floors of the Archdiocesan Archives.

In Lewin Brzeski, about 60 km (37 miles) south of Wroclaw, floodwaters had already arrived and continued to rise.

Residents waded through waist-deep water in some places, while emergency services boats moved others to safety through flooded streets.

Marek Karas, 63, said authorities should have done more to protect the area since a severe flood in 1997.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the next few days would be critical.

He also said the government currently had 2 billion zlotys ($520 million) available for its efforts

Overnight, volunteers helped rescue workers lift sandbags to build the broken embankment around Nysa, a town of more than 40,000 in southwestern Poland.

Some residents returned to check their homes after the evacuations on Monday, despite Tusk's assurances that authorities would act "mercilessly" against looters.

In the neighboring Czech Republic, Governor Josef Belica said 15,000 people had been evacuated to the northeastern Moravia-Silesia region, one of the two worst-hit. Helicopters were delivering aid to flood-ravaged areas.

Michal Marianek, director of an asylum in the regional capital Ostrava, said Reuters staff had moved residents to a higher floor for two nights and cared for them without electricity.

Credit rating agency Morningstar DBRS estimated that flood losses across Central Europe could exceed 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion).

Belica said the damage in his region alone would reach tens of billions of kroner (over $1 billion). The Czech Insurance Association said the first estimate of the cost of flood damage to insured property was 17 billion crowns ($753 million).

In Hungary, in the cities of Visegrad and Szentendre, north of Budapest, authorities have installed movable dams to limit flooding from the Danube.

Budapest is bracing for near-record peak waters and has closed Margaret Island, a recreational area with hotels and restaurants.

In Slovakia, Environment Minister Tomas Taraba said the Danube had peaked at nearly 10 m (32.81 ft) overnight and water levels will now slowly fall. He said that the damages caused by the floods in the whole country are estimated at 20 million euros./ CNA