Europe floods: Parts of Vienna without power as river rises

The Czech town of Krnov has been almost completely flooded. Deputy Mayor Miroslav Binar told the CTK agency that an estimated 70% to 80% of the town is under water. 

The Opava and Opavice rivers meet in Krnov, which is located about 240 kilometers (150 miles) east of Prague and has a population of just under 23,000. 

According to Binar, it is now too late to evacuate the inhabitants of Krnov and the situation is worse than during the 1997 flood disaster. 

Helicopters were used to rescue people in distress from the air. The situation was also critical in many other places in the east of the country, such as the cities of Opava and Ostrava. 

Meanwhile, Czech President Petr Pavel has appealed for donations to help the flood victims. In a post on X, he noted that the worst-affected areas, such as around Jesenik in the and Frydlant, are also some of the poorest regions in the country.

The government will meet in Prague on Monday to decide on extraordinary financial aid for those affected. 

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The water level of the Wien River in the western part of Vienna rose from 50 centimeters to 2.26 meters in the course of a day, emergency officials said.

Hiking and biking trails are flooded, and restaurant terraces along the river's banks are under water. 

In the suburb of Penzing, northwest of Vienna, the Wien River also overflowed its banks in some places. Homes were evacuated, while streets and an underground parking garage were under water. 

Electricity was cut off in three districts of Vienna. The power company promised to restore service as soon as possible. Two subway lines in Vienna were partially closed.

A dam in southwestern Poland has burst after heavy rains, officials said. The dam in Stronie Slaskie, in the Lower Silesia region, gave way and water from the Biala Ladecka River is now flowing freely into the Nysa Klodzka catchment area, a meteorological network said. 

The town of Stronie Slaskie is located in the Klodzko Valley on Poland's border with the Czech Republic. Police have sent a rescue helicopter to the area to bring people stranded by the water to safety. Army soldiers are also on the scene. 

On Saturday evening, a dam burst in the nearby mountain village of Miedzygorze. 

Germany's eastern state of Saxony is bracing for flooding as Germany's Central European neighbors battle rain and rising water levels. 

State officials said the Elbe River at Schöna, near the border with the Czech Republic, was expected to crest at 7.50 meters (23 feet) on Tuesday afternoon. That will be enough to trigger the highest alert level in the area.

The Elbe has already reached 5.59 meters (16 feet) at Schöna, over three times its usual average of 1.58 meters (4 feet). It is expected to reach 6 meters by Sunday evening. 

If the water rises enough to trigger the highest alarm level, dams could overflow or break, authorities said.

The state capital, Dresden, is on the Elbe. Its historic center will be protected from rising water levels by mobile barriers that will be set up on Monday. 

Authorities in Dresden were also racing to complete the removal of parts of a bridge that collapsed into the Elbe River on Wednesday ahead of expected flooding. Initial demolition work was completed on Saturday, the city's environmental agency said.

Officials in Hungary's capital, Budapest, said that the Danube is expected to rise to above 8.5 meters (27.9 feet).

This would bring the water level close to the record 8.91 meters that were registered in 2013.

"According to forecasts, one of the biggest floods of the past years is approaching Budapest but we are prepared to tackle it," Budapest Mayor Gergely Karacsony said.

Czech police said they were looking for three missing people who were in a car that fell into the river Staric on Saturday near the village of Lipova-lazne in the eastern Czech Republic.

The village and the nearby town of Jesenik have been some of the worst hit in the flooding affecting the Central European country.

Police and fire services used helicopters to evacuate people from Jesenik district. The head of the service told Czech television that over 10,000 people had been evacuated.

A fifth person has died in Romania as a storm swept across eastern and central Europe, emergency services said.

"Another deceased victim has been identified, bringing the total number of deceased to five," rescuers said in a statement. "Four people had previously been found dead in the same region of Galati, in the country's southeast."

On Saturday, four bodies were found in the worst-hit region of Galati, where 5,000 homes were damaged.

Polish rail operator PKP has suspended train services to the neighboring Czech Republic due to severe flooding. 

Trains from the Czech Republic to Poland have been canceled until further notice, the state-owned company said. 

Trains from Poland to the Czech Republic will stop at the last station before the border. 

Both southwestern Poland and large parts of the Czech Republic have been affected by flooding following heavy rainfall.

A firefighter battling flooding in Lower Austria was killed, Austrian Vice Chancellor Werner Kogler said on social media platform X, as authorities declared the northeastern state, which surrounds Vienna and borders the Czech Republic and Slovakia, a disaster area.

The firefighter was pumping water from a cellar when he died, the state's crisis management team said. 

"We are experiencing difficult and dramatic hours in Lower Austria," said state Governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner.

"For many people in Lower Austria, these will be the hardest hours of their lives," she added. "We will do everything we can to hold back the water and protect the country and its people."

Emergency crews responded to nearly 5,000 calls overnight in the state of Lower Austria, where flooding left many residents stranded in their homes. 

The Wien river, which runs through Vienna, was flowing fast and high on Sunday, but its meter-high walls were still holding in most places. 

Vienna's subway system was disrupted, and Austrian rail operator ÖBB suspended train service on a line south of the Danube. 

One person drowned and 1,600 people were evacuated in the Klodzko district of southwestern Poland as local rivers rose to record levels after days of heavy rainfall.

"The situation is very dramatic, it's most dramatic in Klodzko county," Prime Minister Donald Tusk told reporters on Sunday after meeting with the crisis management team in the town of Klodzko.

Some 17,000 households in the district were left without power, and cellphone service was down in some areas. Road access to the towns of Ladek Zdroj and Stronie Slaskie was virtually cut off, Tusk said.

Klodzko, a town of 25,000, was partially submerged as the local river rose nearly 7 meters (about 22 feet), well above the alert level of 240 and surpassing a record set during heavy flooding in 1997 that partially damaged the town and claimed 56 lives in Poland.

Authorities declared the state of Lower Austria, surrounding Vienna, a disaster zone due to severe flooding from continuous heavy rain on Sunday.

Lower Austria Deputy Governor Stephan Pernkopf warned of "massive floods" and potential landslides in some places, according to the APA news agency, adding that "the situation is worsening due to the massive rainfall across the country." 

Around Vienna, roads are flooded and emergency services had to step in to rescue people trapped in their homes overnight. 

One person was rescued from floodwaters of the Pielach River, west of Vienna.

Several municipalities issued evacuation orders, with rubber dinghies pressed into use.

In Vienna, parts of the underground lines were suspended.
 

A dam in southwest Poland overflowed late Saturday after heavy rainfall as flooding continued to devastate Central Europe amid historic extreme weather. 

Despite efforts to drain water and prevent the surge the dam in Międzygórze overflowed, leading to evacuations from nearby villages. 

The dam, built in the early 20th century, is near the Czech border.

Since Friday morning, southwest Poland has received more rain than during the 1997 millennium flood, with alert levels surpassed at 47 gauging stations nationwide.
 

Emergency responders in the Czech Republic, Poland, and Austria struggled to manage rising waters even as Romania reported four flood-related deaths on Saturday amid unprecedented heavy rainfall. 

Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, southern Germany and parts of Austria are expected to see more heavy rain.

Some areas in Austria have been declared disaster zones and residents evacuated from there.

In Czech Republic, the north-western administrative region of Usti nad Labem bordering Germany is worst affected, with more than 20,000 households without power. The highest flood alert level has been issued in approximately 35 locations across the Czech Republic. Authorities also suspended all shipping traffic.

Krakow in Poland was hit hard, with residents being evacuated and public transport disrupted.

On Friday, when authorities appealed to residents to stock up on supplies, Polish Interior Minister Tomasz Siemoniak had warned that "the worst is yet to come."

ss/dj (AP, Reuters, dpa)