At least 15 people have died in floods in central and eastern Europe that are expected to peak on Tuesday after renewed heavy rain on Monday saw record water levels in Poland, Romania, Austria and the Czech Republic.
Amid looming sandbag shortages, dozens of missing people and reports of 3m-walls of water, evacuations were stepped up across the Continent on Monday.
In the Czech Republic’s third city of Ostrava, with a population nearly 300,000 and a confluence of three rivers, local media reported water “gushing into the city”.
“We appear to have dam breaches in several districts,” said Peter Hladik, the Czech environment minister, announcing a once-in-a-century flood.
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Further down the Elbe river, the Czech city of Ústí nad Labem and Germany’s Dresden were bracing themselves for near-record water levels of around 7.65m by early Wednesday. Similar alarms were triggered in the Polish cities of Opole and Wroclaw, which were badly hit by floodwaters from the Oder river in 1997.
The government in Warsaw has declared a tate of natural disaster in flood-hit west and southwest regions. This move releases emergency aid of one billion zloty (€230 million) puts all rescue efforts in central government hands and allows restrictive measures on business and population movement.
“This will help expedite aid payments for those affected by the flood,” said climate minister Paulina Henning-Kloska.
Polish officials have demanded financial support from Brussels and called on Poles to donate food and other supplies to those in need.
Polish media reported the drowning of a well-known 71-year-old surgeon, Krzysztof Kaminski, in the flood waters of the Neisse river. His family had reported him missing when he failed to return from work.
An emergency evacuation was carried out late on Sunday at a hospital in the city of Nysa, near the Czech border. Some 40km further west, the mayor of Paczkow ordered an emergency evacuation of the town’s 8,000 residents after cracks were discovered in the dam of the local reservoir.
Romania has reported seven dead so far, including two women aged 86 and 96; most of the victims lived in isolated rural areas.
Prague has declared an emergency in two northeastern regions near the Polish border where towns have become submerged under the flood water.
Czech military helicopters and inflatable rafts have been deployed to pluck people from their homes. Retreating waters on higher ground revealed devastated homes, demolished road infrastructure and abandoned, mud-filled cars.
Floods continued to halt local and long-distance rail travel to and from Vienna, while water levels in the Wien river through the Austrian capital have reached levels not seen in 100 years.
On the nearby Danube, a Swiss river cruiser with 100 passengers and 40 crew remained docked as it waited for flood waters through Vienna to subside.
Austria has announced €300 million in immediate aid for those affected by the floods, mostly in the Lower Austria region around the capital.
In total, 200 streets have been blocked and 1,800 buildings evacuated with school cancelled for all in the state. After a brief lull on Monday, renewed rainfall in the afternoon increased pressure on several dams in the region, including one linked to a key regional power station.
Speculation was growing in Austria that the flood catastrophe could deliver a late surprise in the September 29th parliamentary election.
Polls show the opposition far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ) leading on around 27 per cent, with the ruling conservative People’s Party (ÖVP) of chancellor Karl Nehammer trailing around three points behind.
“Governing figures can present themselves much better in such situations as crisis managers,” said Thomas Hofer, a leading Austrian political analyst. FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl – until now considered the person to beat – had “naturally difficulty as an opposition in the flood crisis”.
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