Deadly floods swirl towards Poland's historic Wroclaw
Published: 03:09 PM,Sep 17,2024 | EDITED : 07:09 PM,Sep 17,2024
Soldiers and civilian volunteers fill sandbags in Wroclaw, Poland. — Reuters
NYSA: Poland's historic city of Wroclaw readied buses for possible evacuations on Tuesday and the zoo called for volunteers to protect animals from rising water as the death toll in three days of devastating floods across central Europe rose to 21. Rivers were still bursting their banks in the Czech Republic, while the River Danube was rising in Hungary, and parts of Austria and Romania have also been inundated by floodwaters. The Czech-Polish border areas are among the worst-hit since the weekend, as gushing, debris-filled rivers devastated historic towns, collapsing bridges and destroying houses.
Flooding has killed seven people in Romania, where waters have receded since the weekend, six in Poland, five in Austria, and three in the Czech Republic. Tens of thousands of Czech and Polish households were still without power or fresh water.
Wroclaw prepared for peaking water along the Oder river. 'We have buses provided, if there is a need for evacuation,' Wroclaw Mayor Jacek Sutryk told a crisis meeting. 'Today we will also be reinforcing further embankments, also in the Odra (Oder) river basin.' The city's zoo called for volunteers to help pack sandbags to protect animal enclosures and employees and volunteers began to move some of the 450,000 books from the city's main church archive to higher floors of the Archdiocesan Archives building. Polish authorities have filled 80% of a giant reservoir near the Czech border.
Overnight, volunteers helped rescue workers heave sandbags to build up the broken embankment around Nysa, a city of more than 40,000 people in southwestern Poland.
National fire chief Mariusz Feltynowski said on Tuesday that the Nysa embankment was sealed, with military helicopters joining the operation to drop sandbags.
In neighbouring Czech Republic, Governor Josef Belica said 15,000 people had been evacuated in the northeastern Moravia-Silesia region, one of two badly affected. Helicopters were delivering aid to areas cut off by floodwaters. Credit rating agency Morningstar DBRS estimated losses from flooding across central Europe at between several hundred million euros to more than one billion euros. — Reuters
Flooding has killed seven people in Romania, where waters have receded since the weekend, six in Poland, five in Austria, and three in the Czech Republic. Tens of thousands of Czech and Polish households were still without power or fresh water.
Wroclaw prepared for peaking water along the Oder river. 'We have buses provided, if there is a need for evacuation,' Wroclaw Mayor Jacek Sutryk told a crisis meeting. 'Today we will also be reinforcing further embankments, also in the Odra (Oder) river basin.' The city's zoo called for volunteers to help pack sandbags to protect animal enclosures and employees and volunteers began to move some of the 450,000 books from the city's main church archive to higher floors of the Archdiocesan Archives building. Polish authorities have filled 80% of a giant reservoir near the Czech border.
Overnight, volunteers helped rescue workers heave sandbags to build up the broken embankment around Nysa, a city of more than 40,000 people in southwestern Poland.
National fire chief Mariusz Feltynowski said on Tuesday that the Nysa embankment was sealed, with military helicopters joining the operation to drop sandbags.
In neighbouring Czech Republic, Governor Josef Belica said 15,000 people had been evacuated in the northeastern Moravia-Silesia region, one of two badly affected. Helicopters were delivering aid to areas cut off by floodwaters. Credit rating agency Morningstar DBRS estimated losses from flooding across central Europe at between several hundred million euros to more than one billion euros. — Reuters