Central and Eastern Europe mourns at least 15 deaths on Monday after devastating storm Boriswhich also left thousands of people homeless and caused immense damage that is still difficult to estimate.
Incessant rains have been falling on the region since Friday, swelling rivers and streams and forcing thousands of residents to leave their homes, sometimes by helicopter, with some taking refuge on the roofs of their houses or cars.
In addition to seven deaths recorded in Romania, Austria announced two new deaths, men aged 70 and 80, after that of a firefighter the day before.
On the Czech side, police confirmed to public radio the death of one person who drowned, as well as seven missing people.
Polish police reported four victims in the disaster-stricken regions, while Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced immediate aid of one billion zlotys, or 235 million euros.
“A nightmare”
States of natural disaster have been declared everywhere, hundreds of thousands of homes are without electricity or water, roads are cut off and rail transport has been interrupted.
Although the weather situation seems to be improving in several places, the ground remains saturated and the rivers are bursting their banks.
In some towns, such as the Polish commune of Klodzko, the waters are beginning to recede, revealing destruction and desolation: streets strewn with debris, broken windows, broken street lamps.
Two hours’ drive away, the Czech town of Krnov is experiencing “disaster” in the aftermath of unprecedented flooding.
“All the sidewalks are destroyed, everything is overturned here, it’s a nightmare,” Eliska Cokreska, a pensioner who uses sticks to help her get around, told AFP. “It will take forever to put everything back together.”
“Critical” situation
Further south, in Austria, the situation “remains dramatic,” warned Johanna Mikl-Leitner, governor of the Lower Austria region, at a press conference.
Twelve dikes have broken, 13 municipalities are still cut off from the world and around 2,000 people are being mobilised to save those who are under threat.
“I am relieved that we are all safe, as are the horses and the animals,” said a visibly shocked resident, Jaroslawa Kauffman, as she was soaking wet, as quoted by ORF television.
In Vienna, where rain continues to fall, four metro lines are still partially closed, with the network threatened by the Wien River and the Danube Canal crossing the capital.
Many students were unable to attend school, including Lea, 18, who declined to give her last name. It was a day off that she appreciated, “even though the situation is of course serious.”
Like other boats, a river cruise ship that was due to reach Budapest is stuck at the quayside with 102 mainly Swiss passengers on board, according to the Swiss company Thurgau Travel, which is organising a raffle to pass the time.
“Fury”
“The rainfall was so intense that rainfall maps, which use bright colours to indicate heavier rain, ran out of shades and had to switch to white,” said Hannah Cloke, professor of hydrology at the University of Reading in the UK.
Before this storm, “central and eastern Europe had experienced a stifling summer, with dry conditions in many regions,” she recalls, referring to a type of situation “increasingly frequent due to climate change.”
Flooding from heavy rains is expected to increase in central and western Europe as the world faces an average of 1.5°C of warming, experts say.
In Romania, the province of Galati (south-east) was the most seriously affected.
In Slobozia Conachi, it is impossible to assess the extent of the disaster at this stage, according to the mayor Emil Dragomir interviewed by AFP, launching an appeal for donations for dozens of children affected.
In the neighbouring village of Pechea, more than a third of the commune has been devastated, says Mayor Mihai Mancila, “including farmland”. “Now that the water has receded, it’s just mud.”
“Let’s clean up and see what can be saved,” Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu reacted in Bucharest. “It’s hard to manage such fury. You don’t joke with nature.”