WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Soldiers and firefighters used sandbags to reinforce river embankments and delivered food and drinking water to cut-off communities as the worst flooding in years moved Tuesday across a broad swath of Central Europe, taking lives and destroying homes.
Heavy flooding has affected a large part of the region in recent days, including the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Austria. Around 20 deaths were reported in the flooding, which followed heavy rainfall but the full human cost was still not clear. Casualties have been reported in Romania, Austria, the Czech Republic and Poland.
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An aerial view of a flooded neighbourhood in Bohumin, Czech Republic, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)
An aerial picture taken with a drone shows the flooded resort village of Venek and the swollen Danube River near Gyor, Hungary, Tuesday, September 17, 2024. (Gergely Janossy/MTI via AP)
An aerial picture taken with a drone shows the flooded resort village of Venek and the swollen Danube River near Gyor, Hungary, Tuesday, September 17, 2024. (Gergely Janossy/MTI via AP)
A man riding a bicycle is reflected in water infiltrated through anti-flood barriers on the banks of the River Danube, in Bratislava, Slovakia, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Tomas Hrivnak)
Geese stand on an outdoor table in a flooded neighbourhood in Ostrava, Czech Republic, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)
A view of flooded sports club in Plav, Czech Republic, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Stanislav Hodina)
Zuzana Kublova's family home is flooded, in Bohumin, Czech Republic, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)
People take photos of rising waters on the banks of the River Danube, in Bratislava, Slovakia, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Tomas Hrivnak)
Zuzana Kublova wades through her flooded family home, in Bohumin, Czech Republic, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)
Residents paddle through a flooded street in Bohumin, Czech Republic, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)
An aerial picture taken with a drone shows the flooded resort village of Venek and the swollen Danube River near Gyor, Hungary, Tuesday, September 17, 2024. (Gergely Janossy/MTI via AP)
Soldiers who help strengthen the embankments and to prevent floodings walk by sandbags near the city of Wroclaw, southwestern Poland, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Krzysztof Zatycki)
This handout photo provided by the Polish fire department, shows firefighters removing piles of debris dumped in the streets by high flood wave that is passing through southwestern Poland, in Glucholazy, Poland, on Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. ( Marcin Muskala/KG PSP via AP)
This handout photo provided by the Polish fire department, shows firefighters removing piles of debris dumped in the streets by high flood wave that is passing through southwestern Poland, in Glucholazy, Poland, on Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. ( Marcin Muskala/KG PSP via AP)
This handout photo provided by the Polish fire department, shows firefighters removing piles of debris dumped in the streets by high flood wave that is passing through southwestern Poland, in Glucholazy, Poland, on Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. ( Marcin Muskala/KG PSP via AP)
This handout photo provided by the Polish fire department, shows firefighters removing piles of debris dumped in the streets by high flood wave that is passing through southwestern Poland, in Glucholazy, Poland, on Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. ( Marcin Muskala/KG PSP via AP)
Firemen deliver aid to residents whose homes are flooded in Bohumin, Czech Republic, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)
Soldiers fill and arrange sandbags to help strengthen the embankments and to prevent flooding near the city of Wroclaw, southwestern Poland, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Krzysztof Zatycki)
This handout photo provided by the Polish fire department, shows firefighters removing piles of debris dumped in the streets by high flood wave that is passing through southwestern Poland, in Glucholazy, Poland, on Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. ( Marcin Muskala/KG PSP via AP)
A cyclist pushes his bicycle through a flooded street in Bohumin, Czech Republic, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)
Residents paddle through a flooded street in Bohumin, Czech Republic, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)
A resident carries his bicycle as others paddle through a flooded street in Bohumin, Czech Republic, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)
A resident paddles through a flooded street in Bohumin, Czech Republic, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)
Residents use sandbags to strengthen the embankment of the Oder River on its way to Wroclaw, southwestern Poland, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Krzysztof Zatycki)
View of the Bratislava castle as the water level of the Danube river rises during recent floods in Slovakia, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Tomas Hrivnak)
This handout photo provided by the Polish fire department, shows a flooded area near the Nysa Klodzka river in Nysa, Poland on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (KG PSP Photo via AP)
The Elbe floods against the backdrop of the old town at dawn Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in Saxony, Dresden, Germany. (Sebastian Kahnert/dpa via AP)
People fill sandbags to reinforce the dam due to the flooding of the Danube river at Tahitotfalu, Hungary, on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
A fireman and residents look at flooding waters in Ostrava, Czech Republic, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)
Vehicles are partially covered by water during floods in Ostrava, Czech Republic, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)
An aerial view of a flooded neighbourhood in Ostrava, Czech Republic, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)
This handout photo provided by the Polish fire department, shows a flooded area near the Nysa Klodzka river in Nysa, Poland on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (KG PSP Photo via AP)
This handout photo provided by the Polish fire department, shows a flooded area near the Nysa Klodzka river in Nysa, Poland on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (KG PSP Photo via AP)
In some areas, the waters were receding, leaving behind mounds of debris. As reports of looting came in, government and military authorities vowed to crack down on perpetrators. Gen. Wiesław Kukuła, Chief of the General Staff of the Polish Army, said the military was deploying soldiers equipped with night vision and thermal imaging devices to support the police in areas where people had to leave for higher ground.
“Looters, night and lack of electricity will no longer be your ally,” he tweeted late Monday.
Other places braced for the worst yet to come, including two Central European gems: Budapest, the Hungarian capital on the Danube River, and Wroclaw, a city in southwestern Poland on the Oder River which boasts a Gothic cathedral and other historic landmarks.
Hungary deployed soldiers to reinforce barriers along the Danube as thousands of volunteers filled sandbags in dozens of riverside settlements.
In Budapest, authorities closed the lower quays, which were expected to be breached by rising waters. The lower half of the city’s iconic Margaret Island was also closed.
In Wroclaw, firefighters and soldiers worked through the night to reinforce river embankments with sandbags. The city zoo, located on the Oder, appealed for volunteers to fill sandbags on Tuesday morning.
“We and our animals will be extremely grateful for your help,” the zoo said.
The city said it expected the flood wave to peak there around Friday, though some had predicted that would happen sooner. Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk met with a crisis team early Tuesday and said there are contradictory forecasts from meteorologists.
Tusk's government has declared a state of natural disaster across southern Poland.
To the south of Wroclaw, residents spent the night fighting to save Nysa, a town of 44,000 people, after the Nysa Klodzka River broke its banks the day before. Mayor Kordian Kolbiarz said 2,000 “women, men, children, the elderly” came out to try to save their town from the rising waters, forming a human chain that passed sandbags to the river bank.
“We simply … did everything we could," Kolbiarz wrote on Facebook. "This chain of people fighting for our Nysa was incredible. Thank you. We fought for Nysa. Our home. Our families. Our future.”
Later on Tuesday, authorities in Nysa said the city center had been saved from the flooding.
In Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, the deputy mayor for the environment, Jakub Mrva, said the level of the Danube had peaked and would slowly decrease. He said that mobile barriers had saved the historic center, but that there was still damage, including to tram lines.
“We also observed major damage at the zoo, which is flooded, and there is relatively high damage in the city forests of Bratislava, where many trees have perished,” Mrva told The Associated Press in an interview, speaking next to the flooded banks of the Danube.
In the Czech Republic, waters have been receding in the two hardest-hit northeast regions. The government approved the deployment of 2,000 troops to help with clean-up efforts. The damage is expected to reach billions of euros.
The Czech government also scrambled to help local authorities organize regional elections on Friday and Saturday as several schools and other buildings serving as polling stations were badly damaged. However, a planned evacuation of some 1,000 in the town of Veseli nad Luznici could be postponed as the waters had not reached critical levels so far.
Associated Press journalists Justin Spike in Budapest, Hungary, Karel Janicek in Prague, and Tomas Hrivnak in Bratislava, Slovakia, contributed to this report.
An aerial view of a flooded neighbourhood in Bohumin, Czech Republic, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)
An aerial picture taken with a drone shows the flooded resort village of Venek and the swollen Danube River near Gyor, Hungary, Tuesday, September 17, 2024. (Gergely Janossy/MTI via AP)
An aerial picture taken with a drone shows the flooded resort village of Venek and the swollen Danube River near Gyor, Hungary, Tuesday, September 17, 2024. (Gergely Janossy/MTI via AP)
A man riding a bicycle is reflected in water infiltrated through anti-flood barriers on the banks of the River Danube, in Bratislava, Slovakia, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Tomas Hrivnak)
Geese stand on an outdoor table in a flooded neighbourhood in Ostrava, Czech Republic, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)
A view of flooded sports club in Plav, Czech Republic, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Stanislav Hodina)
Zuzana Kublova's family home is flooded, in Bohumin, Czech Republic, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)
People take photos of rising waters on the banks of the River Danube, in Bratislava, Slovakia, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Tomas Hrivnak)
Zuzana Kublova wades through her flooded family home, in Bohumin, Czech Republic, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)
Residents paddle through a flooded street in Bohumin, Czech Republic, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)
An aerial picture taken with a drone shows the flooded resort village of Venek and the swollen Danube River near Gyor, Hungary, Tuesday, September 17, 2024. (Gergely Janossy/MTI via AP)
Soldiers who help strengthen the embankments and to prevent floodings walk by sandbags near the city of Wroclaw, southwestern Poland, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Krzysztof Zatycki)
This handout photo provided by the Polish fire department, shows firefighters removing piles of debris dumped in the streets by high flood wave that is passing through southwestern Poland, in Glucholazy, Poland, on Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. ( Marcin Muskala/KG PSP via AP)
This handout photo provided by the Polish fire department, shows firefighters removing piles of debris dumped in the streets by high flood wave that is passing through southwestern Poland, in Glucholazy, Poland, on Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. ( Marcin Muskala/KG PSP via AP)
This handout photo provided by the Polish fire department, shows firefighters removing piles of debris dumped in the streets by high flood wave that is passing through southwestern Poland, in Glucholazy, Poland, on Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. ( Marcin Muskala/KG PSP via AP)
This handout photo provided by the Polish fire department, shows firefighters removing piles of debris dumped in the streets by high flood wave that is passing through southwestern Poland, in Glucholazy, Poland, on Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. ( Marcin Muskala/KG PSP via AP)
Firemen deliver aid to residents whose homes are flooded in Bohumin, Czech Republic, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)
Soldiers fill and arrange sandbags to help strengthen the embankments and to prevent flooding near the city of Wroclaw, southwestern Poland, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Krzysztof Zatycki)
This handout photo provided by the Polish fire department, shows firefighters removing piles of debris dumped in the streets by high flood wave that is passing through southwestern Poland, in Glucholazy, Poland, on Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. ( Marcin Muskala/KG PSP via AP)
A cyclist pushes his bicycle through a flooded street in Bohumin, Czech Republic, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)
Residents paddle through a flooded street in Bohumin, Czech Republic, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)
A resident carries his bicycle as others paddle through a flooded street in Bohumin, Czech Republic, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)
A resident paddles through a flooded street in Bohumin, Czech Republic, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)
Residents use sandbags to strengthen the embankment of the Oder River on its way to Wroclaw, southwestern Poland, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Krzysztof Zatycki)
View of the Bratislava castle as the water level of the Danube river rises during recent floods in Slovakia, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Tomas Hrivnak)
This handout photo provided by the Polish fire department, shows a flooded area near the Nysa Klodzka river in Nysa, Poland on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (KG PSP Photo via AP)
The Elbe floods against the backdrop of the old town at dawn Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in Saxony, Dresden, Germany. (Sebastian Kahnert/dpa via AP)
People fill sandbags to reinforce the dam due to the flooding of the Danube river at Tahitotfalu, Hungary, on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
A fireman and residents look at flooding waters in Ostrava, Czech Republic, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)
Vehicles are partially covered by water during floods in Ostrava, Czech Republic, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)
An aerial view of a flooded neighbourhood in Ostrava, Czech Republic, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)
This handout photo provided by the Polish fire department, shows a flooded area near the Nysa Klodzka river in Nysa, Poland on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (KG PSP Photo via AP)
This handout photo provided by the Polish fire department, shows a flooded area near the Nysa Klodzka river in Nysa, Poland on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (KG PSP Photo via AP)
