(Głuchołazy) Torrential rains, spectacular and deadly floods, evacuations by the thousands: the storm Boris wreaks havoc in Central and Eastern Europe, leaving at least seven dead and several missing.
The storm caused catastrophic damage and flooding in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Austria and Romania.
After the death of four people in Romania on Saturday, the toll rose on Sunday, with a fifth victim found dead in Romania, a person drowned in Poland and a firefighter dead in Austria.
In addition, four people are missing in the Czech Republic.
Images of the floods show entire neighborhoods flooded, streets submerged in water, residents rescued with water up to their armpits in Romania, sand dikes to limit the rising waters, people taking refuge in a school in Poland.
PHOTO TOMAS BENEDIKOVIC, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Firefighters carry food into the flooded town of Stupava, located a few kilometers west of Bratislava, Slovakia, September 15, 2024.
The storm caused massive power outages, disruptions to the transport network and mass evacuations of residents across these countries.
In Romania, a fifth victim of the storm was found on Sunday, in the worst-hit region, Galati (South-East), where thousands of homes have been affected.
Water has “taken everything”
In Pechea, located in this region of Galati, Sofia Basalic, 60, lost everything in the waves.
“The water came into the house, it tore the walls, everything. It took the chickens, the rabbits, everything. It took the stove, everything, the washing machine, the refrigerator, I have nothing left,” she said.
A firefighter died while working during floods in northeastern Austria, regional authorities said on Sunday.
“For many residents, the hours we are living through will remain the worst of their lives. […] “A firefighter has already died while responding to the floods,” said Johanna Mikl-Leitner, governor of Lower Austria (northeast), who has asked the federal army to come to the aid.
In the Polish town of Głuchołazy, on the Polish-Czech border, the flooded river overflowed the embankments and damaged a bridge, flooding the town centre and neighbouring neighbourhoods.
PHOTO SERGEI GAPON, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Streets are flooded in Głuchołazy, southern Poland, on September 15, 2024.
“We are sinking”
“We are sinking,” the mayor of Głuchołazy told the press, calling on residents to leave areas threatened by the floods.
Nurse Marcin Reisch said the basement of the local hospital was already under water, “the surgical department and the storage areas for medical supplies are flooded.” […]the patients are all on 1er floor and 2e “.
Thousands of people have been evacuated and evacuations continue on both sides of the border where hundreds of thousands of homes remained without power Sunday morning.
Rail traffic between Poland and the Czech Republic has been cut off, PAP reported.
The situation is particularly serious in the north-east of the Czech Republic, where a large part of the town of Opava has been evacuated due to the overflowing of the Opava River.
PHOTO JAROSLAV OZANA, ASSOCIATED PRESS
A group of people stand next to a flooded street in Opava, Czech Republic, September 15, 2024.
Downstream from Opava, in Velke Hostice, locals have built a sandbag wall about 500 metres long.
“I look at this with horror. If we don’t stop the wave, it will flood the lower part of the village,” said Jaroslav Lexa, a local hunter.
In Poland, the town of Ladek Zdroj remained without road access, and in the Klodzko region 1,600 people had to be evacuated.
“We believe there will be more evacuations,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Sunday, again calling on the population “not to refuse evacuation.”
Poland sent the army to support the firefighters and police on the ground, equipped with heavy equipment.
Czech electricity suppliers reported on Sunday morning that 260,000 homes were without electricity due to the floods.
In Austria, rail traffic was interrupted in part of the country overnight from Saturday to Sunday.
Bundesliga football matches have been cancelled.
Sand dikes
Three lines of the Vienna metro have been partially closed, with the network threatened by the Wien River and the Danube Canal running through the Austrian capital.
Sand dams were built inside the tunnels.
The region of the country hardest hit by the storm, Lower Austria (northeast) has been classified as a natural disaster zone. With 1.72 million inhabitants, it is the most populous in the country after Vienna.
Nearly 5,000 operations took place overnight in Lower Austria, where residents are currently trapped in their homes.
The zoo in the Slovak capital had to move some animals to safe locations, said zoo manager Michal Pipa.
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, IPCC climate experts said in a 2022 report.