Six dead as severe flooding hits eastern and central Europe

Dramatic flooding across Central Europe left at least half a dozen people dead as forecasters warned of more rain to come.

Poland, Austria, the Czech Republic and Romania were particularly hard hit by Storm Boris in what could be some of the worst flooding in the region for 30 years.

Romania was forced to set up displacement camps and launch volunteer rescue operations, with Klaus Iohannis, the president of Romania, offering his condolences to the victims’ bereaved families.

“We must continue to strengthen our capacity to anticipate extreme weather phenomena” he wrote. Five thousand homes were flooded in the east of the country.

Glucholazy, in southern Poland, experienced severe flooding
Glucholazy, in southern Poland, experienced severe flooding - SERGEI GAPON/GETTY

Donald Tusk, the prime minister of Poland, confirmed there was one death by drowning in the district of Klodzko, calling on the population to follow evacuation orders and telling reporters that “the situation is dramatic in many places.”

Officials said 40 per cent of the major city of Wrocław was underwater, while the mayor of nearby Głuchołazy warned: “We are drowing.”

Rivers were continuing to to break their banks on Sunday and town centres were being flooded, with homes wept away.

Some 25,000 residents have been evacuated in a valley in the Sudetes mountains near the border with the Czech Republic.

An elderly man is rescued by locals in the Romanian village of Slobozia Conachi
An elderly man is rescued by locals in the Romanian village of Slobozia Conachi - DANIEL MIHAILESCU/GETTY

50 litres of rainfall per square metre are expected in parts of the country, more than in the historic 1997 flood which killed one hundred across central Europe.

A firefighter died in a rescue operation in a cellar in Austria as the region of Lower Austria declared a state of emergency.

“We are experiencing difficult, dramatic hours in Lower Austria,” said Johanna Mikl-Leitner, Governor of the region.

“For many Lower Austrians, these will be the hardest hours of their lives”.

“We will do everything we can to stand up to the water to protect the land and its people.” A Black Hawk helicopter was deployed to rescue two trapped motorists near Markersdorf.

The river Biala Ladecka in Poland couldn't contain the extreme levels of rainwater
The river Biala Ladecka in Poland couldn’t contain the extreme levels of rainwater - TOMASZ PIETRZYK/REUTERS

The region was declared a “catasrophe zone”, while motorways and railways were cut off completely

Austria‘s Chancellor Karl Nehammer said: “The storm situation has worsened in the last few hours…The storm situation in the federal states is very serious.”

Thousands of people have been evacuated from the eastern Czech region of Moravia, with more than a quarter of a million people without power.

Polish train operator PKP has suspended train services that enter the Czech Republic and more than 180 patients were evacuated from the Brothers of Mercy Hospital in the city of Brno.

Residents in the Czech town of Jesenik were hit by severe flooding
Residents in the Czech town of Jesenik were hit by severe flooding - MARTIN DIVISEK/SHUTTERSTOCK

Meteorologists have warned the situation still might get worse as waters in most rivers are rising, the flood wave made its way through the country and more heavy rains could return overnight.

Thousands of others were also evacuated in the towns of Krnov and Cesky Tesin. The Oder River that flows to Poland was expected to reach extreme levels in the city of Ostrava and later in Bohumin.

Towns and villages in the Jeseniky mountains, including the local centre of Jesenik, were inundated and isolated by raging waters that turned roads into rivers. The military sent a helicopter to help with evacuations.

Four people who were swept away by waters were missing, police said.