Central Europe braced for worst flooding in years

Sandbags are being ready in Austria, reservoirs have been emptied within the Czech Republic and flash floods are anticipated in Poland, as forecasters warn of days of “probably catastrophic” rainfall.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has mentioned there may be “no purpose to panic”, after attending a flood threat briefing in Wroclaw, amid forecasts of 15cm (6in) of rainfall in 4 southern provinces.

In Austria, heavy rain and snow within the mountains has already led to journey disruption and Chancellor Karl Nehammer has mentioned the military is able to deploy as much as 1,000 troopers if mandatory.

The Czech capital is taking no probabilities, after floods that devastated the town 20 years in the past.

Photographs from 2002 of flooded metro stations, residents being evacuated in rubber dinghies and elephants drowning within the Prague Zoo are seared into the native reminiscence.

Shortly earlier than 10:00 (08:00 GMT) on Friday, a pair of heavy metal gates, one metre thick, closed off the so-called Satan’s Canal or Certovka, a sliver of water that slices by the historic Mala Strana district of Prague earlier than rejoining the River Vltava.

The Certovka gates are a part of a nationwide community of flood defences that officers say have value greater than €1bn (£845m) with a purpose to stop a repeat of the catastrophic harm of 1997 and 2002.

Prague hopes to flee the worst of the flooding. Consideration is targeted this weekend on central and japanese components of the nation, particularly North Moravia, the place 50 individuals misplaced their lives in 1997.

The Jeseniky mountains may obtain some 400mm over the subsequent three days, and that water will then cascade down the River Oder (Odra in Czech) and on in direction of Poland, passing plenty of cities and villages on the way in which.

After attending a briefing by emergency companies in south-west Poland, Donald Tusk sought to reassure the general public that the forecasts had been “not overly alarming” and there was no purpose to foretell something on a scale that may trigger a menace throughout the nation.

Poland’s territorial military was on standby, he mentioned, and in one of many 4 southern provinces, Malopolska, an estimated two million sandbags had been stockpiled, whereas one other million had been out there in Decrease Silesia, the province round Wroclaw.

“If one thing will be anticipated, and this what we need to be ready for, it’s after all localised flooding or so-called flash floods,” he added.

The Polish Institute of Meteorology and Water Administration later prolonged the best alert degree from the 4 southern provinces to the mouth of the River Odra in Szczecin, the place it spills into the Baltic Sea.

Austria skilled its hottest August since data started, in response to the Geosphere Austria federal institute.

Now it’s warning of 10-20cm of rainfall in lots of areas in a matter of days. In some locations, effectively over 20cm is feasible, particularly within the mountains of Higher and Decrease Austria and in northern Higher Styria.

Austrian storm warning centre UWZ says that in some areas, earlier data for the complete month of September can be “surpassed in just some days”.

Manuel Kelemen, a forecaster for Puls24 TV, says from a meterological viewpoint, “what we’re experiencing is extraordinary, if not unprecedented”.

Railway community OEBB has suggested all passengers to postpone non-urgent journeys. A part of the Tauern railway line between Unhealthy Hofgastein and Böckstein within the province of Salzburg has been closed due to heavy snowfall.

Flooding and landslides are attainable, with gale drive winds anticipated within the capital, Vienna. Support organisation Caritas has appealed for volunteers to assist in affected areas.

Steady heavy rain can be anticipated throughout the border within the German state of Bavaria.

That is after all a regional, not a nationwide emergency, with a big space of Central Europe affected.

However a reminder of nationwide priorities got here earlier this week when Czech officers mentioned that they had been pressured to refuse a German request to cease emptying reservoirs into the River Vltava, which flows into the River Elbe (Labe in Czech) and onwards to Germany, following the collapse of a bridge in Dresden.

These reservoirs – a collection of 9 dams often known as the Vltava Cascade – will should be half-empty to take what this weekend has in retailer.