By Micheal Chukwuebuka, Reporting
NO fewer than four persons were killed and thousands of homes were damaged by flooding, following days of torrential rain in eastern Romania.
According to NBC News, tens of thousands of households were left without power in Romania and the Czech Republic, where more rainfall is forecast in the coming days. Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, southern Germany and parts of Austria are also expected to see more heavy rain.
It was gathered that residents of some towns along the Czech-Polish border were evacuated as rivers rose past alert levels while the Czech capital, Prague, which suffered catastrophic floods in 2002, put preventative anti-flood measures in place.
Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu visited hard-hit Galati county, where the four people were found dead, about 5,000 homes were damaged and 25,000 were without power.
“The priority is obviously to save lives. At this moment we have all the necessary logistics to intervene quickly,” Ciolacu said.
In the Czech Republic, northern and northeastern areas bore the brunt of the deluge and 51,000 households had their electricity supply cut off.
Forecasters warned that residents in some parts of the country could see more than a third of average annual rainfall by Sunday, with Environment Minister Petr Hladik urging people in the worst-hit areas to prepare to leave their homes.
In Prague, a city of more than 1.3 million people that sits on the banks of the Vltava river spanned by the picturesque 14th century Charles Bridge, flood barriers were put in place.
The city heavily invested into preventive measures after the 2002 floods, which swept into the subway system and forced tens of thousands of people from their homes.
Prague Zoo, which is located along the Vltava, was closed to visitors and Czech Railways said services on dozens of routes were disrupted. In the country’s second-biggest city, Brno, a hospital evacuated patients as a precaution.
In Glucholazy, a historic town in southwestern Poland near the Czech border, firefighters piled hundreds of sandbags alongside a swollen river and some residents were evacuated.
Polish Interior Minister Tomasz Siemoniak said weather forecasts looked unfavorable, with very heavy rainfall to fall around the Czech border area over the next 24 hours, feeding rivers into Poland.
“We are facing a critical night, full mobilization is required,” Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on the X platform.
Officials in neighboring Slovakia warned of the threat of flooding in the capital, Bratislava, from the swollen Danube, while Hungary expects the river to near record-high levels in the coming days.
In Austria, emergency services were working with district governors and municipalities to prepare for evacuations.
Chancellor Karl Nehammer said all federal states were affected and the situation was deteriorating, particularly in the northeastern state of Lower Austria.
“The coming days will still be extremely difficult and challenging for the affected population and the emergency services,” Nehammer said on X.
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