Heavy Rains and Floods Claim at Least 17 Lives in Central and Eastern Europe

Storm Boris continues to batter Central and Eastern Europe. The death toll from heavy rains and flooding in Central and Eastern Europe has risen to at least 17. Several more people are still missing. Authorities have reported deaths in the Czech Republic, Poland and Austria and warned that the worst may be yet to come. Austria, Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary were the most affected by the heavy rainfall.

Poland's government declared a state of emergency after several days of rain flooded the country's southwestern regions. The day before, Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced the allocation of $260 million (PLN 1 billion) in emergency aid for the worst-hit regions. 

Nearby in the Czech Republic, thousands of residents were left without hot water and electricity after authorities shut down heating plants. In the city of Ostrava, 15 kilometres from the Polish border, the Veolia heating plant was forced to shut down due to flooding, leaving 280,000 residents without hot water, CNN Prima, a CNN affiliate, reported.

Seven people have died in Romania over the past few days. In Austria, a firefighter died on Sunday, and two men in their 70s and 80s were found dead by emergency services after being trapped in their homes on Monday, a spokesman for the Lower Austrian state government told CNN. Four people were killed in floods in Poland and three in the Czech Republic, local police said.

In Hungary, Prime Minister Viktor Orban tried to allay the concerns of residents of the capital Budapest. In a video statement filmed along the western bank of the Danube River on Sunday, Orban said that Hungarian water management experts were ‘confident’ that water levels would not exceed previous records, promising that all necessary resources had been deployed to deal with the floodwaters.

In the Slovakian capital Bratislava, authorities expect the water level in the Danube River to peak on Monday afternoon, city spokesman Peter Bubla told CNN. 

‘The situation remains very serious... The level of the Danube River in Bratislava has already exceeded nine metres (29 feet) and continues to rise,’ Bubla added.

Torrential rains have already caused ‘significant damage’ and crews are working hard to ‘remove uprooted and broken trees’ after ‘hundreds’ fell in the city's forest parks. Police have widely ‘warned the public of the dangers’ of walking along the Danube River, a Bratislava police spokesman told CNN on Monday.

Polish Prime Minister Tusk said on Monday that Poland intends to appeal to the European Union for emergency financial assistance. The bloc's spokesman for crisis management, Balázs Ujvari, said earlier that the EU would send emergency aid, such as water pumps, rescue teams, boats, food and water to countries in need ‘extremely quickly’ if necessary.

Extreme rainfall events are likely to become more frequent and intense as the planet warms, science shows. Europe is the fastest warming continent in the world, and global heating is contributing to extreme weather events. A warmer atmosphere can hold more water vapour, meaning more intense rain when it falls, and hotter oceans cause stronger storms.