The devastating flooding that began last week has claimed seven lives in Poland and has left a trail of destruction across the country’s southwestern regions.
According to government data, the disaster covers over 749 localities, with nearly 2.5 million people living in disaster-affected areas.
Among them, 57,000 individuals have been directly impacted by the flood.
As of Saturday evening, 6,544 individuals have been evacuated, and over 11,500 buildings have been damaged, including more than 6,000 farm structures and 724 public facilities such as schools, kindergartens, sports centers, administrative buildings, as well as bridges and roads.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who attended the crisis management meeting held in Wrocław, the capital of Lower Silesia region, said that the situation requires extraordinary regulations.
He said: “I want us to have legislative proposals prepared for Tuesday’s government meeting and to initiate the fastest possible pathway.”
According to preliminary estimates from the Lower Silesian province, losses in the region as of Saturday are estimated at 3.83 billion zlotys (€895,98 million).
The Opole province, also in southwestern Poland, currently estimates its losses at 388 million zlotys (€89.62 million).
In the southern Małopolska region, the losses reported so far by the local government amount to 88 million zlotys (€20.35 million).
Tusk said that the situation in the areas after the flood must be better not only than the one after the destruction, but also better than the one before the flood.
He added that it is not only about flood protection, but generally about the entire infrastructure that has been destroyed.
The next meeting of the crisis management team with the participation of Tusk is scheduled in the southwestern city of Głogów at 6 p.m.(local time).
Warsaw pledges 20 million zlotys in flood relief
In a show of solidarity, the Mayor of Warsaw, Rafał Trzaskowski, announced on Saturday that he has initiated the transfer of 20 million zlotys (€4.6 million) in financial support to the municipalities of Nysa, Kłodzko, Lądek-Zdrój, and Głuchołazy, which have been the hardest hit by the floods.
He added that Warsaw will offer 900 places for so-called “green schools” for children from flood-affected areas.
“We know that a lot of educational institutions have been flooded, and therefore we want to offer the opportunity to organize rest for children and youth from flooded areas. Rest, but also to organize, for example, ‘green schools,’ so that kids can learn in different conditions.
“We are proposing 900 places for the so-called green schools in education and training centers and in institutions in Warsaw,” Trzaskowski added.
