Germany, Austria, Poland, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania all are reeling under the brunt of Cyclone Boris.
The storm has caused heavy rainfall, floods and destruction across Central Europe and has claimed the lives of at least 15 people so far.
The cyclone erupted on September 15, hiting the border area between Poland and Czechia.
The following day, it had moved, causing mayhem deeper in Poland, near Wroclaw, with rising water from the Danube also threatening Slovakia and Hungary.
Prague, Czechia’s capital, shuttered its embankments, built flood barriers and closed the city zoo.
It sealed off the Devil’s Canal (Čertovka) in Prague’s historic Mala Strana district, redirecting it to the Vltava River. Čertovka is part of a national flood defence system that cost more than €1 billion and was designed to prevent catastrophic flooding like those seen in 1997 and 2002. Authorities in Prague were said to be hoping to avoid such devastating results this time around.
In some parts of Austria, more rain fell in a couple of hours than the average for the whole of September.
On September 16, two people were found dead in their homes and one person was missing. Earlier, a firefighter was perished. The country also saw multiple dam breaches
At the time of writing, eastern Austria was already suffering dangerous floods with more rain expected. The whole of lower Austria was declared a disaster area.
According to meteorologists, the situation was not expected to ease until September 17 or 18.
Vienna, the capital, was described as being in a particularly perilous situation.
In Romania, six people died in Galati County and about 10,000 homes have been damaged.
Local media was on September 16 reporting that the majority of homes affected were not insured.
More than 40 schools have also been impacted by the flooding, prompting Romania’s education minister Ligia Deca to propose that students temporarily attended lessons in temporary classrooms. Additionally, she suggested a hybrid model where students could alternate between in-person and online learning to minimise disruption to their education.
Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk said his government would declare a state of natural disaster in order to mobilise European Union resources within the bloc’s RescEU mechanism.
That includes a fleet of firefighting planes and helicopters, a medical evacuation plane and a stockpile of medical items and field hospitals that can respond to health emergencies.
The rescEU reserve also includes shelters, transport and logistics assets and energy supply items.
In the event of a natural disaster, EU governments can be granted extra powers to combat and mitigate its impacts, which may include restricting certain public liberties and rights.
On the evening of September 15, local authorities had appealed to residents to evacuate their homes due to a possible dam breach in the south of the country.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has postponed his international engagements due to the severe flooding in his country. On September 16, the capital Budapest was bracing for further impact.
Lądek Zdrój (powiat kłodzki) podczas przejścia fali powodziowej.#Powodź #powódź2024
Nagranie: Iwona Mondrzejewska pic.twitter.com/9YkIqRMYyw— 🇵🇱 Antyfarmazon 🇵🇱💪 (@ZaPLMundurem) September 16, 2024
The violent weather conditions were anticipated to continue through te whole of September 16 and the following day, with heavy rain and thunderstorms persisting.
