Residents of several areas of Poland and the Czech Republic rushed to evacuate yesterday, while others in central Europe began cleaning up after the worst floods in the last two decades, which left behind a large number of dead and massive destruction.
The death toll from heavy rains and flooding in central and eastern Europe has risen to at least 17, with several people still missing, while authorities have warned that the worst may be yet to come.
Hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated from their homes across Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia as Storm Boris caused what one mayor described as a "disaster of epic proportions". Floods breached dams, collapsed bridges, washed away houses, flooded streets, cut off electricity and in some places submerged entire neighborhoods.
Šimon Krzistan, a 16-year-old standing in a square in the Polish town of Ladek-Zdroje, described the losses from the floods as "unimaginable". "The city is like in the apocalypse... It is a ghost town," he said. His fellow citizen Jerži Adamčik, 70, told Reuters: "Armageddon... Literally everything was torn out because we don't have any bridges. In Ladek, all the bridges have disappeared. We are practically cut off from the world".
The government of Poland declared a state of natural disaster in the affected areas and announced that it had set aside one billion zlotys (about 260 million euros) to help the victims. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk called an emergency cabinet meeting to speed up the provision of financial and other aid to the victims, while his Hungarian counterpart, Viktor Orban, canceled all international commitments.
Tusk said that he is in contact with the leaders of other affected countries and that they will jointly request financial assistance from the European Union.
The capital of Hungary, Budapest, is busy preparing for serious flooding due to the rising level of the Danube, as well as the capital of Slovakia, Bratislava. In Austria, river and reservoir levels dropped overnight from Sunday to Monday as the rain eased, but officials warned to prepare for a second wave as more rainfall is expected. Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehamer said the situation "continues to worsen", especially in Lower Austria, which has been declared a disaster area.
Romania's prime minister, Marcel Colaku, said he would "clean up the country and see what can be saved", adding that, compared to the worst floods in 2013, "the amount of water was almost three times greater".
A resident of the Romanian village of Pecea, in the affected region of Galați, told AFP: "The water entered the house, collapsed the walls, everything. She took the chickens, the rabbits, everything. She took away the stove, the washing machine, the refrigerator. I have nothing more”.
In eastern Romania, where villages and towns were under water over the weekend, Emil Dragomir, mayor of Slobozia Konaci, said the floods had a devastating impact and that some people were left with "only the clothes they were wearing".
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz described the images from flooded areas in Austria, the Czech Republic, Romania and Poland as "dramatic" and said Germany was "deeply saddened by the news of the dead and missing" and ready to help.
The President of the EC, Ursula von der Leyen, expressed solidarity with those affected by the floods and said that the EU would provide support.
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