At least 8 dead, 4 missing as torrential rain and flooding hit Central Europe

The death toll in Central European countries rose on Sunday after Days of heavy rainfall caused widespread flooding and forced mass evacuations.

Several Central European countries have already been hit by severe flooding, including Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland and Romania. Slovakia and Hungary could be next, as a low pressure area from northern Italy dumped record rains on the region since Thursday.

Six people have died in floods in Romania. In Austria, a firefighter died during a rescue operation after the flooding, and in Poland, one person died by drowning, the BBC reported. In the Czech Republic, police said four people were still missing after being swept away by floodwaters.

Officials have declared the Austrian province that includes Vienna a disaster area, calling it “an unprecedentedly extreme situation.” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk issued an announcement Sunday urging residents to cooperate with rescue teams, confirming the number of deaths in that country, the BBC reported.

Most parts of the Czech Republic have been affected, as authorities issued the highest flood warnings in around 100 places in the country. But the situation was worst in two northeastern regions that recorded the highest rainfall in recent days, including the Jeseniky Mountains near the Polish border.

In the city of Opava, about 10,000 of the 56,000 residents were asked to leave their homes and move to higher ground. Rescue workers used boats to bring people to safety in a neighborhood flooded by the raging Opava River.

“There is no reason to wait,” Mayor Tomáš Navrátil told Czech public radio, saying the situation was worse than during the last devastating floods in 1997, known as the “flood of the century.”

“We must focus on saving lives,” Prime Minister Petr Fiala told Czech public broadcaster Sunday, adding that his government was due to meet on Monday to assess the damage.

The worst “is not over yet,” the prime minister warned as floods swept across the country.

President Petr Pavel sounded more optimistic, saying: “It is clear that we have learned a lesson from the previous crisis.”

Thousands of others were also evacuated in the towns of Krnov, which was almost completely flooded, and Cesky Tesin. The Oder River, which flows into Poland, reached extreme levels in the city of Ostrava and in Bohumin, leading to mass evacuations.

Ostrava, the regional capital, is the third largest Czech city. Mayor Jan Dohnal said the city would face major traffic jams in the coming days. There were almost no trains in the region.

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 army sent a helicopter to help with evacuations.

Mayor Zdenka Blistanova of Jesenik told Czech public television that several houses in her and other nearby towns were destroyed by the floods. A number of bridges and roads were also badly damaged.

On Sunday morning, around 260,000 households across the country were without power, while traffic was at a standstill on many roads, including the key D1 highway.

A firefighter has died after “slipping on the stairs” while pumping out a flooded cellar in the town of Tulln, Lower Austria Fire Department chief Dietmar Fahrafellner told reporters on Sunday.

Authorities have declared the entire northeastern state of Lower Austria a disaster area, while 10,000 emergency services have so far evacuated 1,100 homes there. Aid workers have begun setting up emergency shelters for residents forced to flee their homes by the floods.

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer told reporters on Saturday afternoon after a crisis meeting at the Interior Ministry in Vienna that the situation was “getting worse and worse”.

He said 2,400 soldiers were ready to support the relief effort in Austria, of which 1,000 will be deployed to the disaster area in Lower Austria, where dams have started to burst.

Nehammer was scheduled to visit the disaster area in Lower Austria later on Sunday.

“We are experiencing difficult and dramatic hours in Lower Austria. For many people in Lower Austria, these will probably be the most difficult hours of their lives,” said Johanna Mikl-Leitner, the Governor of Lower Austria.

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer, who was on his way to the disaster area in Lower Austria, said 2,400 soldiers were ready to support the relief effort.

In Vienna, the Wien River burst its banks, causing houses to be flooded and forcing the evacuation of houses near the river.

Romanian authorities said on Sunday that two more people had died in the hard-hit eastern province of Galati, after four deaths were reported there a day earlier as a result of unprecedented rainfall.

One person is believed to have died in flooding in the southwest of Poland, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Sunday.

Tusk said the situation was “dramatic” around the town of Klodzko, with about 25,000 residents, located in a valley in the Sudetes Mountains near the border with the Czech Republic. Helicopters were used in a few cases to pull people off roofs.

In Glucholazy, rising waters overtopped a river embankment and flooded streets and houses. Mayor Paweł Szymkowicz said, “We are drowning” and called on residents to evacuate to higher ground.

A threatened bridge in the city collapsed under the flood pressure and a police station was toppled in Stronie Śląskie after floodwaters burst through the city’s dam. In many places in the Kłodzko Valley region, bordering the Czech Republic, flooded cars were seen as a new wave of flooding was expected.

In some flooded areas, power and communications have been cut off. Regions may be using the satellite-based Starlink service, Tusk said.

The weather change came after a warm start to September in the region, with scientists recording the hottest summer on Earth, breaking a record set just a year ago.

A warmer atmosphere, caused by human-induced climate change, can lead to heavier rainfall.