FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
Bad weather has brought Central and Eastern Europe to its knees.
Storm Boris proved deadly in Romania, where five people died in floods in the southeastern region of Galati.
In the Czech Republic, 51,000 families were flooded. Northern areas of the country have been hit by power outages, says Czech energy company CEZ. Flood barriers have been raised in the capital Prague.
Poland also evacuated some residents from Glucholazy, a town near the Czech border, after a river burst its banks.
"We are again facing the effects of climate change, which are increasingly present on the European continent, with dramatic consequences ," Romanian President Klaus Iohannis said on Saturday.
Extreme rainfall is becoming more likely in Europe, as in much of the world, due to climate change.
A warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture, which can lead to more rainfall.
A dam in southwestern Poland burst yesterday evening after heavy rain.
The municipality of Lower Silesia, Bystrzyca Klodzka, in Poland said the dam in Miedzygorze had overflowed, despite efforts to divert water and prevent flooding.
The Regional Water Management Authority in Wrocław called the situation "critical" prompting evacuations from villages.
The dam, built at the beginning of the 20th century in the Klodzko valley, on the Polish-Czech border, is 29 meters high.
Its flood control reservoir can hold almost one million cubic meters of water.
As of Friday morning, more rain has fallen in southwestern Poland than during the so-called millennium flood of 1997, and the alert level has been exceeded at 47 measuring stations across the country.
Heavy rains in the region of the Elbe and Vltava rivers in the Czech Republic caused the Elbe's water level to rise.
Authorities have issued a third level flood alert for about 20 rivers and streams. More than 60,000 Czech households have been left without electricity after heavy storms ," Czech news agency CTK reported.
The area of Mikulovice, near the Polish border, was flooded in the early morning, as seen in footage published by Czech television on social media platform X.
In the southern town of Ceske Budejovice, firefighters have been erecting flood barriers along the Malse and Vltava rivers since Friday evening.
In Prague, preparations for the expected flooding of the Vltava were in full swing, with flood barriers erected along the banks of the river.
Transport traffic is suspended.
Water levels in rivers in the Czech Republic are expected to rise further over the weekend, according to meteorologists.
Some areas have seen between 50 and 110 liters of rain per square meter since Friday.
Meanwhile, in Austria, 42 municipalities have been declared disaster zones as flood levels in the country continued to rise.
The situation is particularly tense along the Kamp and Kremps rivers, which flow into the Danube.
Stephan Pernkopf, the deputy governor of Lower Austria, said the region's flood defenses – strengthened after severe flooding in 2002 – were designed to withstand floods that occur statistically once in 100 years.
However, with heavy rain expected to continue, meteorologists warn that the situation could worsen.
They say the Danube could reach levels seen once every 30 years in Austria's Weinviertel and Mostviertel regions.
Lini një Përgjigje