MONITORING (SW) – The death toll has been rising in Central European countries after days of heavy rain caused widespread flooding and forced mass evacuations.
Several Central European nations have already been hit by severe flooding, including Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland and Romania. Slovakia and Hungary might come next as a result of a low pressure system from northern Italy dumping record rainfall in the region since Thursday.
Six people have died in the floods in Romania. In Austria, a firefighter died during a flood rescue, and, in Poland, one person died from drowning, the BBC reported. In the Czech Republic, police said four people were still missing after being swept away by floodwaters.
Officials declared the Austrian province that includes Vienna a disaster area, calling the weather “an unprecedented extreme situation,” while Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk urged residents to cooperate with rescue teams in an announcement Sunday confirming the death in that country, according to the BBC.
Most parts of the Czech Republic have been affected as authorities declared the highest flood warnings at around 100 places across the country. But the situation was worst in two northeastern regions that recorded the biggest rainfall in recent days, including the Jeseniky mountains near the Polish border.
Romanian authorities said Sunday that another two people had died in the hard-hit eastern county of Galati after four were reported dead there a day earlier, following unprecedented rain.
In Poland, one person was presumed dead in floods in the southwest, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Sunday.
