Four people have lost their lives in Romania due to floods caused by Storm Boris, which has unleashed heavy rains and widespread disruption across central and eastern Europe. Rescue services reported these developments on Saturday, September 14.
Since Thursday, Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia have experienced severe weather, including strong winds and intense rainfall.
Storm Boris in Romania
In Romania, the bodies of four individuals were found in Galati, the hardest-hit region in the southeast, where approximately 5,000 homes were damaged. Across 19 regions, hundreds of residents have been rescued. Rescue services shared footage of flooded homes in a village along the Danube River.
Romanian President Klaus Iohannis acknowledged the increasing impact of climate change across Europe, emphasizing the need to bolster efforts to anticipate extreme weather events. The mayor of Slobozia Conachi in Galati, Emil Dragomir, noted that 700 homes in his village had been submerged, describing the situation as a disaster of unprecedented scale.
Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu was expected to visit the affected areas, while President Iohannis extended his condolences to the families of those who had lost their lives.
Storm Boris in Czech Republic
In the Czech Republic, around 100,000 firefighters were deployed, dealing with nearly 2,900 incidents on Friday, mostly related to fallen trees and flooding. On Saturday, nearly 50,000 homes were left without electricity, according to Czech power company CEZ, and a hospital in the southeastern city of Brno was evacuated.
Environment Minister Petr Hladik expressed concern that the already saturated ground would prevent rainwater from being absorbed, leaving it to accumulate on the surface. Residents were being provided with free sandbags to protect their homes.
Storm Boris in Slovakia, Poland
In Slovakia, the capital, Bratislava, declared a state of emergency. Meanwhile, in Poland, authorities warned of worsening conditions in the southwest by Saturday afternoon. The government closed the Golkowice border crossing with the Czech Republic after a river overflowed, disrupting roads and train services between Prudnik and Nysa.
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Storm Boris in Austria
In Austria, winds reached 146 kilometers per hour in the southern regions. Since Friday, firefighters in Vienna have responded to around 150 incidents, clearing storm debris and pumping water from flooded basements. Local media reported that 4,000 homes in the Styria region were left without power, with Chancellor Karl Nehammer cautioning that the worst was still to come.
In the mountainous western regions, snowfall disrupted traffic, and rescue teams were searching for a man missing after an avalanche. Some areas of Tyrol were buried under nearly a meter of snow, an unusual occurrence for mid-September, given the temperatures had reached 30 degrees Celsius just the week before.
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