Monday, September 16, 2024 Days of relentless rain have caused severe flooding across central and eastern Europe, disrupting rail services, forcing evacuations, and inflicting damage on homes and infrastructure. The hardest-hit areas on Sunday included southwest Poland, where in Glucholazy, a temporary bridge was swept away, and another under construction was severely damaged as floodwaters surged through the town. In Stronie Slaskie, a dam failure left the town’s 6,000 residents cut off from neighboring areas.
In Austria, flooding risks prompted the suspension of rail traffic on a major line between Vienna and Salzburg, and several subway services in Vienna were also disrupted. Trains were halted between Amstetten and St. Valentin on the high-speed Weststrecke line, which handles about a third of Austria’s rail traffic and connects Germany with eastern Europe.
The Czech Republic also faced extensive rail closures, with around 40 lines shut down by Sunday. Passenger services between Poland and the Czech Republic were suspended indefinitely, according to Poland’s PKP Intercity. The devastating downpours have led to flash floods across Romania, Poland, and Austria, with fatalities reported in each country, including a firefighter in Austria.
In Romania, two people remain missing, Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu confirmed. The low-pressure system over the Balkan region continued to dump heavy rainfall on Sunday, particularly in Austria’s northern and central regions. Lower Austria, the country’s most populous state, declared a state of emergency, advising residents to avoid non-essential travel.
Some 1,100 homes had already been evacuated by the weekend. Authorities are monitoring the Ottensteiner Reservoir in Austria, which is expected to overflow despite efforts to release water ahead of the anticipated rains. The swelling Kamp River, a tributary of the Danube, is expected to rise further.
West of Vienna, recorded 353.6 millimeters. Snowfall in Austria’s mountains on Friday and Saturday also contributed to the crisis, though the snowline is predicted to rise later on Sunday.
Emergency responders in Poland and the Czech Republic have mobilized in large numbers, closing at least two border crossings due to flooded roads on the Czech side. In the Czech Republic, conditions worsened throughout Sunday, with rivers flooding towns and villages in the northeast. Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala warned that rivers had yet to crest and that challenging conditions would persist into Monday.
In the Czech town of Opava near the Polish border, authorities began evacuating over 10,000 residents, with thousands more displaced from nearby regions. Rescue teams used military helicopters to evacuate people stranded in flooded homes, and by Sunday morning, over 250,000 homes were without power..
