Deadly Weather Sweeps Across Europe: Floods and Wildfires Cause Chaos

Europe is facing a devastating combination of extreme weather events, with torrential rainfall triggering widespread flooding across Central Europe and wildfires raging through Portugal, resulting in numerous casualties, CNN reports.

Flooding in Central Europe

• At least 17 people have been killed in floods, described by authorities as the worst in decades, affecting Central and Eastern Europe.

• In Poland, the city of Nysa, home to 44,000 residents, has been evacuated due to rising river levels threatening to flood neighborhoods.

• Residents and emergency services worked through the night to reinforce river embankments with sandbags.

• Nysa’s hospital was forced to evacuate patients, including pregnant women, before the city’s full evacuation was ordered.

• While rainfall is expected to ease, officials warn river levels remain dangerously high, threatening low-lying urban areas.

Flooding in Czech Republic and Italy:

• Heavy rainfall has shifted towards northern and eastern Italy, prompting an orange rainfall warning.

• Along the Czech-Polish border, emergency services have carried out helicopter rescues in Ladek Zdrój, where residents were trapped in their homes.

• Floodwaters have begun to recede, but extensive damage to rural villages has been reported.

• In Jesenik, a spa resort town, residents have been dealing with torrents of dirty water.

• Flooding has impacted a large section of the Czech-Polish border, extending to Ostrava, where thousands were left without hot water due to a shutdown of the region’s main heating plant.

Wildfires in Portugal

• Seven people have died in Portugal since Sunday due to wildfires, including three firefighters whose vehicle caught fire on Tuesday.

• Wildfires have led to the closure of highways and roads across Portugal, disrupting travel.

• Six highways, including the main link between Lisbon and Porto, have been closed due to fires.

• A total of 19 major roads have been affected.

• Over 5,000 firefighters are battling nearly two dozen large wildfires across the country.