Days of torrential rain have led to multiple rivers bursting their banks, causing widespread destruction across the region and six deaths in Poland.
The Polish announcement of a “state of natural disaster” will affect parts of the southwestern Lower Silesia and southern Opole and Silesia regions, under rules that came into force on Monday afternoon.
The move means that the authorities have the right to issue mandatory evacuation orders and limit the movement of people in specific zones.
The order came shortly before the mayor of the southwestern town of Paczków told people to evacuate after a dam retaining a reservoir near the town collapsed, sending a torrent of water towards it.
Dramatic video footage shot from a helicopter showed tons of muddy water surging over the remnants of the collapsed dam.
A hospital in the nearby town of Nysa has already been evacuated as floodwaters began to submerge parts of the city. Forty-seven patients were moved on Sunday, and 97 on Monday.
The mayor then ordered the evacuation of all the town’s residents, urging anyone who had stayed in their homes to move to the tops of buildings.
Following a sitting of a crisis management team on Monday, the Polish defense minister announced that due to people refusing to evacuate over fears of their homes being looted, military police would be patrolling deserted areas.
So far, the flooding has led to at least six deaths in Poland and caused severe damage to buildings and infrastructure.
In response, Donald Tusk, the prime minister, told reporters: "I have turned to the finance minister, and, at the moment, we have secured one billion zlotys in reserve for the needs of localities and people stricken by the flood.”
Tusk also announced that
emergency financial aid would be available for those affected, including money to rebuild residential properties.
"The finance minister has assured me, in line with our expectations, that there will be no shortage of funds for immediate and long-term aid," Tusk added.
As an additional measure, the finance minister announced special rules zero-rating VAT on donated goods and services.
"The zero percent rate will apply to donations made between September 12 and December 31, 2024, through public benefit organizations, local authorities, medical entities and the Government Strategic Reserves Agency (RARS)," Andrzej Domański wrote on the X platform on Monday.
Paulina Hennig-Kloska, the minister of climate and environment, also said that the government planned to allocate 21 million zlotys (€4.9 million) in subsidies for regions affected by the floods, and, additionally, provide low-interest loans amounting to approximately 100 million zlotys (€23 million) to finance recovery efforts and repair damage caused by the disaster.
These funds will be directed towards the purchase of equipment for fire services, crisis management centers, and local authorities.
The money will also be used to repair sewage systems, water treatment facilities, and purification stations, as well as to eliminate environmental pollution and restore landfills and boiler rooms damaged by the flooding.
Aid from Brussels?
Tusk said he would confer with his regional counterparts with a view to conducting a coordinated appeal to Brussels for financial help, highlighting that the EU has special financial instruments for tackling the aftermath of natural disasters.
“We will try to get everything we can from the EU in terms of funding," Poland's state news agency, PAP, quoted Tusk as saying. "I want us all to be in close touch," he said. "As a group of countries, we can claim [those funds] more easily."
The Polish government has deployed 4,600 troops to the affected regions to help in the emergency response.
Czechs and Slovaks struggling
Slovakia and the Czech Republic are also battling rising waters, with both countries issuing warnings and preparing for the worst.
In the Czech Republic, Prime Minister Petr Fiala called the situation the “flood of the century,” with water levels in several regions surpassing historical records.
Particularly affected are the Moravian-Silesian and Liberec provinces, where rivers have burst their banks, forcing mass evacuations.
The town of Troubky in the east of the country, which was devastated by floods in 1997, has once again been evacuated, with over 12,000 people displaced nationwide.
In Troubky, 700 residents were ordered to leave, though only a few dozen did so, with the rest remaining.
Fiala appealed to the public to follow evacuation orders, stressing the danger to both civilians and rescue teams. “Refusing to evacuate is not just dangerous for individuals but also puts rescuers at risk,” he said, warning of legal consequences for those who ignored the order.
Meanwhile, Slovakia is experiencing similar disruption, particularly in the capital Bratislava, where the Danube River has surged to over 8 meters. Local authorities have issued stern warnings for residents to avoid riverbanks as conditions remain hazardous.
Several roads in Slovakia have become impassable, and public transport has been heavily disrupted. Northern Slovakia, especially the Čadca region, has been hit by its worst flooding in over 50 years.
War-torn Ukraine offers help
On Sunday, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, announced that Kyiv had issued
offers of help to its flood-hit neighbors.
A spokesperson for Ukraine’s emergency rescue service said that aid was ready to be deployed to Poland but an official request had yet to be received from Warsaw.
Tusk expressed gratitude for Kyiv’s offer but said that Ukrainian emergency crews should remain in the war-ravaged country as their presence there was needed.
With further storms predicted, the region remains on high alert.
On Monday, a hydrologist said after a meeting of a Polish national crisis group that a “flood wave” would probably reach the capital, Warsaw, on Friday.
“However, we do not foresee a critical situation” he said, cited by the wp.pl website. “This wave will reach the medium- or high-water level.”
The warning comes less than a week after droughts reduced many of the region’s rivers to
record-low water levels.
