Floods as torrential rain batters central Europe

LIPOVA-LAZNE, Czech Republic/WARSAW — One person drowned in southwest Poland, a rescue worker was killed in Austria and thousands were evacuated in the Czech Republic after heavy rain continued to batter central Europe on Sunday, causing flooding in several parts of the region.

A firefighter tackling flooding in Lower Austria was also killed, Austrian Vice Chancellor Werner Kogler said on Sunday on social media platform X, as authorities declared the province which surrounds Vienna a disaster area.

A bridge collapsed in the historic Polish town of Glucholazy near the Czech border. Local media reported a house was swept away and a bridge collapsed in the mountain town of Stronie Slaskie, where a local dam burst, according to the Polish weather institute.

Rivers overflowed from Poland to Romania, where four people were found dead on Saturday, after days of torrential rain in a low-pressure system named Boris.

Some parts of the Czech Republic and Poland faced the worst flooding in almost three decades, as towns evacuated thousands. A quarter of a million Czech homes were without power.

Czech police said they were looking for three people who were in a car that fell into the river Staric on Saturday near Lipova-lazne, a village about 235 km (146 miles) east of Prague that has been one of the worst hit along with the neighboring town of Jesenik.

Reuters footage showed flood waters gushing through both towns, damaging some houses and carrying debris.

"We don't know what will be next," Jesenik resident Mirek Burianek said. "The internet network isn't working, telephones don't work... We are waiting for who will show up [to help]."

Police and fire services used a helicopter to evacuate people stranded in the district. Overall, more than 10,000 people had been evacuated in the country, the head of the fire service told Czech television.

Worse than before

In Poland, one person died in Klodzko county, which Prime Minister Donald Tusk said was the worst-hit area of the country.

"The situation is very dramatic," Tusk told reporters on Sunday morning after a meeting in Klodzko town, which was partly under water as the local river rose over 6 meters.

That surpassed a record seen in heavy flooding in 1997, which partly damaged the town and claimed 56 lives in Poland.

Officials in Glucholazy ordered evacuations on Sunday morning although efforts to protect the town's infrastructure failed to prevent the bridge collapse.

Police were deploying helicopters for people trapped in flooded houses. More rain is forecast across central Europe.

In the Hungarian capital Budapest, officials raised forecasts for the Danube to rise in the second half of this week to above 8.5 meters, nearing a record 8.91 meters seen in 2013.

"According to forecasts, one of the biggest floods of the past years is approaching Budapest but we are prepared to tackle it," Budapest's mayor Gergely Karacsony said.

In Romania, authorities said the rain was less intense than on Saturday, when flooding killed four and damaged 5,000 homes. — Reuters