Europe is facing a devastating combination of extreme weather events, with torrential rainfall triggering widespread flooding across Central Europe and wildfires raging through Portugal, resulting in numerous casualties, CNN reports.
Flooding in Central Europe
Source: Reuters
• At least 17 people have been killed in floods, described by authorities as the worst in decades, affecting Central and Eastern Europe.
• In Poland, the city of Nysa, home to 44,000 residents, has been evacuated due to rising river levels threatening to flood neighborhoods.
• Residents and emergency services worked through the night to reinforce river embankments with sandbags.
• Nysa’s hospital was forced to evacuate patients, including pregnant women, before the city’s full evacuation was ordered.
• While rainfall is expected to ease, officials warn river levels remain dangerously high, threatening low-lying urban areas.
Flooding in Czech Republic and Italy:
• Heavy rainfall has shifted towards northern and eastern Italy, prompting an orange rainfall warning.
• Along the Czech-Polish border, emergency services have carried out helicopter rescues in Ladek Zdrój, where residents were trapped in their homes.
• Floodwaters have begun to recede, but extensive damage to rural villages has been reported.
• In Jesenik, a spa resort town, residents have been dealing with torrents of dirty water.
• Flooding has impacted a large section of the Czech-Polish border, extending to Ostrava, where thousands were left without hot water due to a shutdown of the region’s main heating plant.
Wildfires in Portugal
• Seven people have died in Portugal since Sunday due to wildfires, including three firefighters whose vehicle caught fire on Tuesday.
• Wildfires have led to the closure of highways and roads across Portugal, disrupting travel.
• Six highways, including the main link between Lisbon and Porto, have been closed due to fires.
• A total of 19 major roads have been affected.
• Over 5,000 firefighters are battling nearly two dozen large wildfires across the country.
