Floods in Central Europe threaten new areas; Italy faces heavy rains

Warsaw:’ A massive flood wave moving across Central Europe was threatening new areas and raising concerns among residents and leaders. It also prompted European Union head Ursula von der Leyen to plan a visit to the region on Thursday.

Heavy rains also caused flooding and evacuation of some 1,000 residents in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna.

The death toll was rising in Central Europe, as receding waters were revealing the huge scale of the destruction caused by exceptionally heavy rains that began a week ago.

Czech Interior Minister Vit Rakusan said the death toll had risen to five in the hard-hit northeast Czech Republic, and that eight were still missing. That brings the death toll so far to 24 in the region.

Authorities have also reported seven deaths each in Poland and Romania, and five in Austria.

Authorities across the affected region have deployed their militaries. In the two hardest-hit regions in the northeast Czech Republic, troops joined firefighters and other emergency officials to help residents with cleanup and recovery efforts. Army helicopters have been used to distribute humanitarian help while soldiers are building temporary bridges after many were destroyed in the flooding.

Some 400 people remain in evacuation centres in the regional capital of Ostrava and are not able yet to return home. In the country’s southwest near the border with Austria, the water level of the Luznice River has reached an extreme level but the evacuation of 1,000 people in the town of Veseli nad Luznici was not necessary for the moment,

officials said.