Rising rivers threaten southern Poland as flooding recedes elsewhere in Central Europe

Firefighters pump water and mud from city streets after a high flood wave in Głogow, Poland, on Sept. 18, 2024. (KG PSP via AP)

WARSAW, Poland — Soldiers and volunteers in southwestern Poland laid sandbags Wednesday near swollen rivers around the city of Wroclaw to protect homes and businesses after days of flooding across Central Europe.

Poland joins Austria, the Czech Republic and Romania in being hard hit by floods following record rains in the region starting last Thursday. Authorities have reported 23 deaths, with seven each in Poland and Romania, five in Austria and four in the Czech Republic.

The floods in Central Europe combined with deadly wildfires in Portugal are joint proof of a "climate breakdown" that will become the norm unless drastic action is taken, the European Union's head office said Wednesday.

The fourth death in the Czech Republic was reported Wednesday, when police said they found the body of a 70-year-old woman who was swept away by waters on Sunday in the town of Kobyla nad Vidnavkou near the town of Jesenik, located in the badly hit northeast.

The weather has improved, with warm and sunny conditions in the Czech Republic, Poland and elsewhere. Water levels were falling in some places, allowing authorities and residents to clean up debris.

Firefighters in Poland were pumping water out of flooded streets and basements. And in Romania, about 1,000 firefighters were working across the country to clean up severely affected areas, the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations said Wednesday in a Facebook post.

But some areas are still under threat, particularly in southwestern Poland.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk held crisis meetings in Wroclaw with local officials and rescue services, urging protective measures and saying his government will help those affected. Floodwaters were expected to crest late Wednesday, and high water levels were expected to continue for many hours, even days.

Soldiers and residents in Marcinkowice, near Wroclaw, laid sandbags near a bridge over the Olawa River, whose waters flow into the Oder, the major river that rises in the Oder Mountains in the Czech Republic and runs north through Poland to Germany.

The community leader of the town of Olawa, Artur Piotrowski, described the situation as difficult. He told the Polish state news agency PAP that two villages in a low-lying area have been flooded since Monday and residents have refused to evacuate.

Thousands of Polish soldiers were in action. Some evacuated people and animals -- including dogs and horses -- from flood-affected areas and distributed food and drinking water. The army also posted on X on Wednesday that it set up a field hospital in the town of Nysa after patients in a hospital there had to be evacuated earlier this week.

Soldiers also were building a temporary bridge in the town of Glucholazy to replace one that was washed away by the flooding.

Residents in another flood-damaged town, Stronie Slaskie, have appealed to Tusk to send someone to direct the cleaning and recovery action, saying it was chaotic and inefficient.

Experts have been preparing for flood threats due to the cresting Oder River in Opole, a city of some 130,000 residents, which seems to have avoided any major flooding, and in Wroclaw, home to about 640,000 residents, which suffered disastrous flooding in 1997.