Houses destroyed and swept away by floodwaters, numerous towns inundated, rivers bursting, residents rescued up to their armpits in water: Storm Boris left behind scenes of devastation in Central and Eastern Europe this weekend. It brought torrential rain and deadly floods to Romania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria and Slovakia. Its death toll rose to eight dead and several missing on Sunday 15 September.
Six people died in Romania, one in Poland and one firefighter in Austria during an intervention. Four people are missing in the Czech Republic. However, the mobilization of the authorities and the mass evacuation of residents in recent days have made it possible to limit the number of victims.
The storm also caused widespread power outages and disruptions to the transport network. For example, rail traffic between Poland and the Czech Republic was suspended, while four metro lines in Vienna were partially closed.
Heavy snowfall
The total rainfall is exceptional: between Thursday and Sunday morning, between Thursday and Sunday morning, between Thursday and Sunday morning, between Thursday and Sunday morning, between Thursday and Sunday morning, between Thursday and Sunday morning, between Thursday and Sunday morning, between 300 and 350 mm of rain fell in some places and between 200 and 270 mm more than in a whole month of September. In the mountains, even at low altitudes, the storm caused heavy snowfall. The Obertauern ski resort (Austria), at an altitude of 1,700 metres, was covered with a metre of powder snow, blocking some windows in houses. In the plains, the enormous amounts of rain caused several rivers to flood, including the Elbe, the Oder, the Morava and the Salzach.
In Poland, the regions of Silesia, Lower Silesia and Opole, in the south of the country, on the border with the Czech Republic, are the most affected. More than a hundred rivers there remained on alert on Sunday. In Stronie Slaskie, in Lower Silesia, a dam on the Biala Ladeckia river broke, causing a devastating wave in the town of Klodzko (population 25,000). In Silesia, in Glucholazy (population 13,000), two bridges were swept away by the pressure of the waters, flooding the town and isolating its centre from the rest of the world. Prime Minister Donald Tusk declared a state of natural disaster on Sunday afternoon.
The cause of these catastrophes is a “cold drop”, that is, a pocket of very cold air, fed both by air of polar origin and by warm and humid air from the Mediterranean, abnormally warm (up to 7°C above normal). “The contrast of air masses was explosive and gave rise to very intense rainfall”explains Davide Faranda, research director (CNRS) of the Laboratory of Climate and Environmental Sciences.
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