Soldiers and firefighters used sandbags to shore up river banks and deliver food and drinking water to isolated communities as the worst floods in years swept across large swaths of central Europe on Tuesday, claiming lives and destroying homes.
In recent days, large areas of the region, including the Czech Republic, Slovak Republic and Austria, have experienced severe flooding. Around 20 people have been reported killed in floods following heavy rains, but the full extent of the human toll is yet to be determined. Casualties have also been reported in Romania, Austria, the Czech Republic and Poland.
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In some areas, water had receded, leaving piles of rubble. Reports of looting had come in and government and military authorities had vowed to crack down on perpetrators. Polish army chief of staff Gen. Wieslaw Kukla said the army was deploying soldiers equipped with night vision and thermal imaging to help police in areas where people had to flee to higher ground.
“Looters, nights and power shortages are no longer your friends,” he tweeted late Monday.
Other places, including Hungary’s capital Budapest on the Danube, the jewel of Central Europe, and Wroclaw, a southwestern Polish city on the Oder River boasting a Gothic cathedral and other historic buildings, are also bracing for the worst to come.
Hungary has sent soldiers to strengthen barriers along the Danube and thousands of volunteers have worked to sandbagger dozens of riverside settlements.
Soldiers strengthen a levee and line it with sandbags to prevent flooding, near the city of Wroclaw in southwestern Poland, Tuesday, September 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Krzysztof Zatycki)
In Budapest, authorities have closed off the lower quay, which is expected to collapse due to rising waters, as well as the lower part of the city’s iconic Margaret Island.
In Wroclaw, firefighters and soldiers worked overnight to shore up river banks with sandbags, and the city zoo on the Oder river called for volunteers to fill them on Tuesday morning.
“We and the animals are incredibly grateful for your help,” the zoo said.
The city said it expected the floodwaters to peak around Friday, though some predicted it would come sooner.Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk met with his crisis management team early Tuesday and said there were conflicts in meteorologists’ forecasts.
Tusk’s government has declared a state of natural disaster across southern Poland.
South of Wroclaw, residents fought through the night to save the town of Nysa of 44,000 people after the Nysa Klocka river overflowed its banks the day before. Mayor Kordiyan Kolbiarz said 2,000 “women, men, children and elderly” had mobilized to try to save the town from rising waters, forming a human chain to pass sandbags to the river’s banks.
“We just did everything we could,” Colbiars wrote on Facebook. “The chain of people fighting for our Niza was amazing. Thank you. We fought for our Niza. Our homes. Our families. Our future.”
Late Tuesday, authorities in Nysa said the city centre had been saved from flooding.
In the Slovak capital, Bratislava, deputy mayor for the environment, Jakub Mrba, said the waters of the Danube had peaked and would gradually fall. He said a portable barrier had protected the historic center but that damage, such as tram tracks, was still present.
“The zoo is flooded and we have seen a lot of damage. Bratislava’s forests have also suffered relatively heavy damage, many trees have died,” Mrba told The Associated Press in an interview next to the flooded banks of the Danube.
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In the Czech Republic, water levels are receding in two of the worst-hit regions in the northeast, and the government has approved sending 2,000 troops to help with the cleanup effort. Damage costs are estimated at billions of euros.
The Czech government also rushed to help local authorities holding local elections on Friday and Saturday after schools and other buildings serving as polling stations were heavily damaged. But in the town of Veseli nad Luznici, a planned evacuation of around 1,000 people may be postponed because water levels have not yet reached danger levels.