Storm Boris arrived in Poland at the weekend, bringing tortential rainfall, the likes of which has not been seen for years.

A string of towns and villages in the south and southwest of the country have been hit by floods, particularly those in the Lower Silesia, Opole and Silesia regions.

Firefighters, police, soldiers and volunteers have all been putting in overtime attempting to minimize the damage.

Staff from the Wodnik company also took up the fight. They focused on trying to protect drinking water from the mountains.

“They saved the water intakes for Jelenia Góra (...) Over two days, for a dozen or so hours, they stood in the downpour, in the forest, manually pulling out everything that the elements carried from the Polski Potok and Sopot [streams]: stones, branches, leaves, garbage. They did not give up even when it seemed that it was beyond saving,” the company wrote on Facebook.

“If it weren’t for them, the entire Zabobrze [housing estate in Jelenia Góra] and part of the city center would be without [drinking] water today,” the company added.