Poland is declared in a state of natural disaster by decision of Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, as a country, as mlarge parts of Central and Eastern Europeis affected of unprecedented floods.
Local authorities in southwestern Poland have urgently appealed to residents to evacuate their homes as floodwaters threaten to burst yet another dam.
In a video posted on their Facebook page, Prudnik city authorities urged residents of the area’s population of more than 22,000 to evacuate immediately.
Kłodzko south of #Poland today completely flooded. The water level has now reached 800 cm, which is equivalent to 8 months of precipitation. #ClimateCrisis #floods pic.twitter.com/6aNZnDFf6B
– Joanna Kędzierska (@joakedzierska) September 15, 2024
“The appeal is very serious, do not waste time with dilemmas, you must go. If the dam breaks, your homes will be destroyed and your lives will be threatened,” a local official is heard saying in the video.
Central Europe has already seen a huge amount of rain in recent days.
Huge volumes of water
About 435 mm of rain has fallen in the Czech town of Cezenik over the past three days – this is extreme precipitation.
More rain is expected on Sunday night and Monday as river levels continue to rise.
The weather will improve from Tuesday, with much drier conditions, but it will take several days for all this water to recede into Europe’s river basins. And that means that for some communities, flooding will get much worse even after the rain stops.
