Sandbags are being prepared in Austria, reservoirs emptied in the Czech Republic, and flash floods are expected in Poland as forecasters warn of days of “potentially catastrophic” rainfall.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk reassured the public, saying, “There is no reason to panic,” after attending a flood risk briefing in Wroclaw. This comes amid forecasts predicting 15 cm (6 inches) of rainfall across four southern provinces.
In Austria, heavy rain and snow in the mountains have already caused travel disruptions. Chancellor Karl Nehammer announced that the army is ready to deploy up to 1,000 soldiers if necessary.
In the Czech Republic, the capital Prague is not taking any risks after the devastating floods two decades ago. Images from 2002, showing flooded metro stations, residents being evacuated in rubber dinghies, and elephants drowning at Prague Zoo, remain etched in local memory.
Shortly before 10:00 (08:00 GMT) on Friday, a one-metre-thick steel gate was closed off at the Devil’s Canal (Certovka), a waterway that runs through the historic Mala Strana district before rejoining the River Vltava. This gate is part of a nationwide flood defence network that has cost over €1bn (£845m) to prevent a repeat of the catastrophic damage from the 1997 and 2002 floods.
Prague hopes to avoid the worst of the flooding, with the focus now on central and eastern parts of the country, especially North Moravia, where 50 people died in 1997. The Jeseniky mountains are expected to receive up to 400 mm of rain over the next three days, with water flowing down the River Oder (Odra in Czech) towards Poland, passing through several towns and villages.
After a briefing by emergency services in southwest Poland, Tusk sought to reassure the public, saying the forecasts were “not overly alarming” and there was no indication of a nationwide threat. He added that Poland’s territorial army was on standby, with two million sandbags stockpiled in the Malopolska province and another million available in Lower Silesia, the province around Wroclaw.
“If anything can be expected, and this is what we are preparing for, it is localized flooding or flash floods,” Tusk stated.
Thousands of Wroclaw residents were forced to use staircases in their high-rise apartments after lifts were shut down due to flood concerns, according to local media. The Polish Institute of Meteorology and Water Management later extended the highest alert level from the four southern provinces to the mouth of the River Odra in Szczecin, where it flows into the Baltic Sea.
In Austria, the federal institute Geosphere Austria reported that the country had experienced its hottest August on record. Now, they are warning of 10-20 cm of rainfall in many regions over the coming days, with some areas, particularly in the mountains of Upper and Lower Austria and northern Upper Styria, expecting more than 20 cm.
The Austrian storm warning center, UWZ, predicted that in some places, monthly rainfall records for September will be “surpassed in just a few days.” Manuel Kelemen, a forecaster for Puls24 TV, described the weather as “extraordinary, if not unprecedented” from a meteorological perspective.
Austria’s railway network, OEBB, advised passengers to postpone non-essential travel, and part of the Tauern railway line between Bad Hofgastein and Böckstein in Salzburg has been closed due to heavy snowfall. Flooding and landslides are possible, with gale-force winds expected in Vienna. Aid organization Caritas has called for volunteers to assist in affected areas. Across the border in Bavaria, continuous heavy rain is expected.
Although this is a regional emergency affecting much of Central Europe, national priorities were underscored earlier in the week when Czech officials declined a German request to halt the emptying of reservoirs into the River Vltava, which flows into the River Elbe and on to Germany. This came after a bridge collapse in Dresden. The Czech authorities emphasized the need to keep the Vltava Cascade of nine dams half-empty to handle the heavy rainfall forecasted for the weekend.
