Emergency services are bolstering flood defences in central and eastern Europe after heavy rains caused rivers to swell and damaged thousands of homes.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk confirmed on Sunday that one person had died from drowning in Poland.
Storm Boris also caused deadly damage in Romania on Saturday, where four people died in flooding in the southeastern region of Galati.
In the Czech Republic, flooding has led to evacuations and 51,000 households in northern parts of the country have lost power, Czech power company CEZ said. Flood barriers have been erected in the capital Prague.
“We are again facing the effects of climate change, which are increasingly present on the European continent, with serious consequences,” Romanian President Klaus Iohannis said on Saturday.
Extreme rainfall is becoming more common in Europe and many other parts of the world due to climate change.
Warmer air can hold more moisture, leading to heavier rainfall.
The mayor of Slobozia Conachi, a village in Romania’s Galati region, said 700 homes were flooded.
“This is a disaster of enormous proportions,” said Emil Dragomir.
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United States Environmental Protection AgencyIn Glucholazy, in the Opole region of southwestern Poland, the mayor said the local river had overflowed and was now flooding the town. He urged residents to evacuate to higher ground on Sunday.
Glucholazy resident Zofia Owsiaka said everyone in the town was “scared” and there seemed “no hope the rain would stop”.
In Krakow, Poland’s second largest city, residents were provided with sandbags to guard against flooding.
Speaking from the town of Klodzko, one of the worst-hit areas in Lower Silesia near the Czech border, Mr Tusk said 1,600 people in the district had been evacuated.
He urged other residents to cooperate with emergency services when asked to evacuate their homes.
In the area, 17,000 people are without power, he said. In some places, cell phone signals are down and the internet is down, so he said he decided to use Starlink satellites.
He said the first Blackhawk helicopter had been sent to the regional capital Wroclaw, where thousands of residents had to use the stairs of high-rise buildings because elevators were closed as a flood precaution, local media reported.
United States Environmental Protection AgencyIn the Czech Republic, a dam burst in the country’s South Bohemia region on Saturday. Environment Minister Petr Hladik urged people in the worst-hit areas to prepare to leave their homes.
Hladik said the ground was saturated and rainwater was sitting on the surface – increasing the risk of flash flooding. The minister said rain in the Czech Republic was expected to continue until Tuesday.
Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said the country was preparing for “a difficult weekend”. Authorities have erected protective walls of sandbags and metal fences.
Football matches in the country’s top two divisions scheduled for this weekend have been cancelled.
