Villages evacuated

Floods also plague Poland, the Czech Republic and Germany

Firefighters set up a flood barrier near the Charles Bridge in the Czech capital Prague.

(Bild: APA/AFP)

Heavy rain and storms also have areas in other European countries firmly in their grip: flooding occurred in Poland and the Czech Republic after continuous rain. Two villages in the border region had to be evacuated. Germany and Slovakia are also preparing for flooding. 

Heavy continuous rain led to flood alerts on many rivers and streams in the Czech Republic. The highest warning level 3 ("danger") was in force at more than 25 gauging stations on Saturday morning. Water levels were expected to rise further over the weekend. Particularly heavy rain fell in the Jeseníky Mountains and the Krkonoše Mountains, but also in South Bohemia and North Moravia.

Emergency services in Prague

(Bild: APA/Associated Press)

Czech Republic: Flood barriers set up
According to the Czech weather service CHMU, 100 to 170 millimetres of rain fell in the most affected regions over the past 24 hours. In Mikulovice in the Jesenik district, masses of water from the surrounding fields flooded houses and roads. The Bela, a tributary of the Glatzer Neiße, also caused problems there. The fire departments erected barriers made of sandbags along numerous bodies of water. Trees fell in many places due to the soaked ground. Several railroad lines were interrupted. Protective walls were erected in the capital city of Prague - shipping traffic was suspended. 

In this article you can see flood pictures from Poland:

The peak was expected in the Czech capital on Sunday night at a flow rate of around 1000 cubic meters of water per second.

Villages in Poland evacuated
The situation is also serious in south-western Poland. In the Opole region, the Biala Glucholaska river burst its banks. From the village of Glucholazy near the border with the Czech Republic, 400 residents had to be evacuated to safety. Interior Minister Tomasz Simoniak was at the scene and posted pictures of the rescue workers' work on X. One hundred firefighters and 60 police officers were deployed in the village, Simoniak wrote. Some residents also had to be evacuated from the village of Morow because the Mora River had burst its banks. In total, the fire department carried out 400 operations in the region.

The demolition of the Carola Bridge in Dresden is urgent - it is to be removed before the flood.

(Bild: APA/AFP )

Dresden fights against time to demolish the bridge
Alert level 1 may be reached at the Schöna gauge on Saturday evening and is expected for Dresden on Sunday morning, according to a warning issued by the Saxon State Flood Center. As a result, time is running out for the demolition work on the collapsed section of Dresden's Carola Bridge. "We're running out of time," said fire department spokesman Michael Klahre on Friday evening. A specialist company is working around the clock to remove the debris.