Continuous rainfalls over the past several days in central and eastern Europe have claimed the lives of local residents, triggered evacuations and caused widespread damages and disruptions.
LIVES CLAIMED
Rivers and streams in some of those countries have been swollen after almost non-stopping rains since last Friday, leading to floods and bringing about deaths and injuries.
Romanian authorities have confirmed that the death toll from floods caused by Storm Boris has risen to six, with two others still missing.
In Poland, the floods have already caused four deaths, said the country’s Chief Commander of the Police Marek Boron on Monday during a meeting of the flood crisis team in Wroclaw in Southwestern Poland.
Austrian Police said on Monday that a 70-year-old and an 80-year-old were killed by floods when trapped in their homes in Lower Austria. In addition, a firefighter died in floods when he was pumping water from a flooded building in the same region on Sunday.
By Sunday evening, six people in the capital Vienna had been injured by falling branches or trees, according to the city government.
Moreover, three people died and at least seven went missing due to floods caused by extreme rainfalls in the Czech Republic, police said on Monday.
Czech President Martin Vondrasek told Czech Radio that one person drowned in a river near Bruntal in the country’s northeastern region, Local police said later on Monday that they found another two dead people in Krnov. Police have also registered seven missing persons in connection with floods.
Confronted with the risks of rivers overflowing, relevant authorities issued flood alerts and ordered evacuations of the households.
By Sunday morning, 1,600 people had been evacuated from Klodzko, Poland, due to severe flooding caused by continuous rainfall.
Czech media reported that more than 12,000 people have been evacuated so far, and about 118,000 households in the country were without electricity on Monday morning.
SEVERE DAMAGES REPORTED
While the river levels or floods have not reached their peaks in some countries, the situation remains severe.
Local water management authority in Wroclaw has announced that the flood peak on the Oder River is expected on Tuesday, and will last for several days.
The entire state of Lower Austria in Austria, among the worst-hit areas in the country, was declared a natural disaster zone on Sunday morning and the warning remained in place on Monday.
Stephan Pernkopf, head of the country’s crisis team, said on Monday morning that ten dam breaks happened “in the past few hours” in Lower Austria and warned of more dam breaks.
Austrian broadcaster ORF reported on Monday that although the water levels in Lower Austria had dropped overnight, heavy rainfall is expected during the day and may worsen the situation.
The “biggest flood in a decade” is approaching the Hungarian capital, Budapest, Mayor Gergely Karacsony warned in a recent video posted on his Facebook page.
Countries like Slovakia, Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) also suffered from heavy precipitation over the weekend, necessitating close monitoring of the water levels or the placement of sand suppliers and necessary equipment along the river banks.
Infrastructure damage, road closures, school suspension, and halted municipal and domestic transport services were also reported in the aftermath of the heavy rainfalls in the region.
The ongoing flood situation, according to a report by the German media Zeit Online, is largely attributed to a low-pressure system from the Mediterranean that has stalled over Eastern Europe, releasing torrential rainfall.
This situation is compounded by climate change, with unusually high temperatures in the Mediterranean fueling the crisis, it added.
“Warmer seas lead to increased evaporation, saturating the air with water vapor, which then falls as heavy rain over the mainland. When the low-pressure system remains stationary, prolonged rainfall occurs in a single region,” said the German media.
CALLS FOR CLIMATE FIGHT
With Storm Boris devastating a large part of Europe, several European political leaders have voiced their concerns as well as calls for concerted efforts to fight against climate change.
Romanian President Klaus Iohannis highlighted the increasing impact of climate change across Europe, which is leading to more frequent disasters.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Monday that he has postponed all of his international obligations due to the extreme weather conditions and the ongoing floods in Hungary.
German Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck has issued a stark warning about the growing frequency of such extreme weather events.
Increasingly frequent floods and disasters are a direct consequence of the climate crisis, Habeck told Funke Media Group newspapers.
He emphasized the need for intensified efforts to combat climate change, such as accelerating the expansion of renewable energy, transitioning to sustainable heating, and promoting climate-friendly industrial production.