Polish city ordered to evacuate as floods devastate central Europe

 Laura Gozzi, Nick Thorpe, Adam Easton, and Rob Cameron

Nook Media News,

The mayor of a Polish city called for an evacuation of all 44,000 residents due to torrential rains that continue battering central Europe.

Nysa Mayor Kordian Kolbiarz appealed to the residents to move out to safer areas, pointing to the possibility that a river embankment might breach and a wave of water started by a wave in the lake would burst down through the town.

The number of deaths from the floods that struck over the weekend has risen to at least 16 as of Monday, with seven deaths confirmed in Romania. Austria, the Czech Republic, and Poland also suffered casualties from the floods.

Budapest said it will close roads along the river Danube, which runs through Hungary's capital city, owing to the risk of flooding later this week.

"Please evacuate your belongings, yourselves, your loved ones. It's worth getting to the top floor of the building immediately because the wave may be several meters high. This means that the whole town will be flooded," Nysa Mayor Kolbiarz wrote.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said one billion zloty (£197m) would be put aside for flood victims in the country, and that Poland would also apply for EU relief funds. His government has also declared a state of natural disaster.

While the situation has already settled in some areas, others are also preparing for even more disruption and danger that floods from Storm Boris may bring.

Part of the Old Town area in the capital, Bratislava in Slovakia, was affected by the flood caused by the overflow of the Danube River. Water had risen to 9m (30ft) and were expected to rise even higher.

Hungary is bracing for floods over the coming days. Alerts have now been issued along 500km (310 miles) of the Danube.

Rising by about a meter every 24 hours, the river, the mayor of Budapest has offered its residents a million sandbags to help protect against floodwaters.

Some tram lines will be out of operation, and roads along the Danube River will be blocked in the Hungarian capital on Monday evening. Trains to and from Vienna have also been canceled.

Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on X that he had postponed all his international obligations "due to the extreme weather conditions and the ongoing floods in Hungary".

The highest totals have been in the Czech Republic. In the northeastern town of Jesenik, 473mm (19in) of rain has fallen since Thursday morning - five times the average monthly rainfall.

Bottles of drinking water were delivered to stranded villages by the Czech fire service, warning people not to drink water from their taps or their wells as it is likely heavily contaminated.

In the Austrian town of St Polten, more rain fell in four days than in the whole of the wettest autumn on record, in 1950.

Chancellor Karl Nehammer said the armed forces had been deployed to offer assistance to storm-hit regions. Austria's Climate Ministry said €300m (£253m) in recovery funds would be available.

Most parties suspended their campaigns for the federal elections scheduled less than two weeks from now, on 29 September.

Villages and towns were submerged in eastern Romania. The flooding has had a devastating impact, told local mayor Emil Dragomir to the media. 

"If you were here, you would cry immediately, because people are miserable, their whole lives' work is gone, and people were left in the clothes they were wearing," he said.

Thousands of people have been evacuated in Poland including the personnel and patients of a hospital in Nysa. Roads have been severely disrupted and train traffic was suspended in many parts of the country.

Monday morning, the mayor of Paczków in southwest Poland urged the people to evacuate as water overflowed from a nearby reservoir and threatened the town.

Water levels are now declining, however, in other parts of the country, according to local officials.

Klodzko city mayor Michal Piszko was quoted by Polish media as saying that water had receded and the signs indicated the worst was now over.

As reported, this was mostly the case for Monday morning city center streets that were drenched with water on Sunday. The water has receded away from the streets now, though it still shows, in the footage, that the buildings have been severely damaged.

Where will Storm Boris go next?

More rain is expected for Austria, the Czech Republic, and south-east Germany on Monday and Tuesday, and another 100mm is forecasted.

It may take days before waters completely recede, but in the middle of the week, much improvement in the weather across central Europe is expected with much drier conditions.

However, Storm Boris will move further south into Italy, where it will redevelop as a strong storm with heavy rain. The Emilia-Romagna region is going to bear the worst brunt, with 100-150mm of rain forecast.

The record rainfall seen in central Europe is due to a combination of factors, including climate change.

Bad weather conditions converged to create the perfect storm-a very cold Arctic air mass coupled with warm Mediterranean air.

A weather pattern in atmospheric pressure also kept Storm Boris in one spot for a long time.

The warmer it is, the more the atmosphere can hold the moisture, the scientists say and thus intense rain. Oceans are warmer, hence more evaporation in feeding storm systems.

For every 1C rise in the global average temperature, the atmosphere can absorb about 7% more moisture.