The severe storm and flooding that has hit Eastern Europe has so far left five deadthe latest on Sunday in southwestern Poland.
One person died and nearly 2,000 people were evacuated. in southwestern Poland due to the storm that is sweeping Central Europe and causing severe flooding in Lower Silesia and Opole, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Sunday.
“The first death by drowning has been confirmed in the Kłodzko district (in Lower Silesia, near the Czech Republic),” the liberal politician said during a press conference.
The man was found in the town of Krosnowice, but emergency services are unable to access the town because it is flooded, according to local police.
The head of state, who visited Kłodzko, said that 1,600 residents had to be evacuated there, but warned that there would be “many more evacuations” throughout the day.
Tusk stressed that “The situation remains very dramatic in many places.”
“The most dramatic situation is in the Kłodzko Valley, namely Stronie Śląskie and Lądek,” he added.
The Prime Minister reiterated his call to residents not to underestimate the threat and not to refuse to evacuate.
He stressed that delaying evacuation could pose a danger not only to citizens, but also to the services that will have to carry out the evacuation later, in much more difficult conditions.
The situation in Opole province is also very difficult, according to the authorities, who reported flooding in Glucholazy due to a river overflowing.
The Institute of Meteorology and Water Management forecasts total precipitation of up to 150 litres per square metre in the provinces of Lower Silesia, Opole, Silesia and Lesser Poland (near Slovakia) by Sunday.
Four dead in Romania
The strong storm has left in Romania Four dead and more than five thousand homes affected due to flooding, while authorities have declared a state of emergency in six counties in the country, the Romanian government announced on Saturday.
“So far, we have confirmed four victims, found in their homes. Some were immobilized in bed and others were found in the courtyards of their homes,” said Romanian Interior Minister Catalin Predoiu in a telephone interview with Digi24.
Predoiu denied reports of a fifth victim, saying that a person who was swept away by the floodwaters had already died two days before the floods.
The victims were living in the communes of Pechea, Draguseni, Costache Negri and Corod, located in the south-eastern region of Galati, where they were swept away by the water currents.
The storm in the Czech Republic
In the Czech Republic, the rain storm has left 260,000 homes without electricityalmost half of which are in the northwestern region of Moravia-Silesia, Czech public television CT24 reported on Sunday.
In the region, 114,000 households are without power. Next in line are Olomouc in the east of the country, with 34,000 affected; South Moravia in the south-east, with 30,000; Hradec Kralove in the centre of the country, with 25,000; and the northern region of Liberec, with 16,000.
The situation in Olomouc is worse than in 1997, when 49 people died and caused millions of euros in damage, according to the region’s governor, Josef Suchánek.
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