Central Europe floods pound cities, kill 17 as mass evacuations underway

Heavy rains and floods ravaged large parts of Central Europe, and at least 17 people have died in flooding from Austria to Romania in the past few days.

Heavy rains and floods have hit large swaths of Central Europe, with authorities urging people to follow emergency evacuation orders.

At least 17 people are dead across Central Europe from the floods, according to Reuters. Poland and the Czech Republic are especially hard-hit. While the floodwaters are receding in some areas, others are still bracing as rivers rise and residents of some of the regions already hit in Poland are describing the damage.

Polish resident Szymon Krzysztan, 16, standing in the town square of Ladek Zdroj, described losses from the floods as “unimaginable.”

“It’s a city like in an apocalypse. … It’s a ghost town,” Krzystan told Reuters.

Jerzy Adamczyk, 70, told Reuters the scene was like “Armeggedon.”

“It literally ripped out everything because we don’t have a single bridge,” Adamczyk said. “In Ladek, all bridges have disappeared. We are practically cut off from the world.”

Flood conditions were seen in 207 locations across the Czech Republic, Prime Minister Petr Fiala said in a post on social media.

“Evacuations are underway in Opava, Krnov, Ostrava, Jeseník, Frýdlantsk and other places. Over 12,000 people were evacuated. A state of danger was declared in Frýdlantska,” Fiala said on X, adding that firefighters had intervened in 7,884 incidents since the floods began.