2 days Ago
Volunteers shored up defences to stem swollen rivers in the Polish city of Nysa on Tuesday, one of dozens of towns and cities across central Europe deluged by devastating floods that have killed at least 19 people. Rivers were still bursting their banks in the Czech Republic, while the River Danube was rising in Slovakia and 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, four 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. 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. Some residents returned to check their homes were safe after evacuations on Monday, despite assurances from Prime Minister Donald Tusk that authorities would act "ruthlessly" against looters. "(They) assured us that services would take care of our belongings and property.
But we are afraid ...
because we are already hearing that looters have become active," Nysa resident Sabina Jakubowska, 45, told Reuters. Poland has declared a state of disaster in the area and set aside 1 billion zlotys ($260 million) for flood victims. Historic Wroclaw, Poland's third city, was preparing 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.".
