The Czech Republic, Poland, Austria and Slovakia are bracing for what weather services predict will be the worst flooding in decades, with the massive storm expected to hit this weekend.
Up to 400 litres of water per square metre. The Czech Republic and Poland are bracing for the torrential rain from Cyclone Boris, which is expected to hit their soil over the next four days. Austria and Slovakia are expecting to receive “only” 200 litres per square metre. The rainfall is likely to be heavier than that which devastated central Europe in 2013, which was considered unprecedented in a millennium at the time, warns the Slovak equivalent of Météo-France.
“All the elements point to a major climate catastrophe this weekend over an incredibly large area from Poland to Croatia across 7 countries”warns agroclimatologist Serge Zaka on X this Thursday, September 12. “An unusually strong cold is currently pouring from the Arctic into Europe. This is an ideal situation for accumulations of fresh snow in the Alps and floods in central Europe.”describes Scottish meteorologist Scott Duncan. The fault lies in a cold drop, pocket of cold air located at an altitude of more than 5,000 meters, mixed with a Overheated Mediterranean.
The depression formed in northern Italy during the night from Wednesday to Thursday, and is moving in a north-easterly direction. On Friday, it will first move over Croatia, before slowly crossing Hungary, eastern Austria and the Czech Republic, and then southern Poland. However, it is when “Depression moves slowly” what “particularly heavy rainfall occursexplains the Swiss weather on its website. “That is, when the supply of moisture is continuous” and that “the precipitations [stationnent] over a region for a long period of time.”
So it’s time to wait. And prepare to face it. The authorities have already triggered red alerts locally, as reported by Meteoalarm: a large part of the Czech Republic, southern Poland, western and eastern Austria, and even southern Germany. On the ground, water retention facilities, mainly reservoirs near dams, have been emptied in the hope of absorbing these exceptional rains.
Authorities on alert
In eastern Czechia, towns in Moravia have erected flood barriers and hauled out sandbags to ward off the elements. The heaviest rainfall is expected there in the coming days, with winds gusting up to 100 km/h. Dozens of cultural events have also been cancelled, including a wine festival in Znojmo that attracts tens of thousands of visitors each year. The region is bracing for disasters it has already experienced, more than twenty years ago: in 1997, violent floods caused 50 deaths and billions of dollars in estimated damage.
In 2002, other extreme weather events ravaged the country, this time on its western side – just like Austria and eastern Germany. 17 people were killed in the Czech Republic, with more damage than five years earlier. The Czech Ministry of the Environment has also chosen to reawaken memories of these two events to warn its population: it believes that the situation its country will experience in the coming days “could be similar”.
Warnings found across the border: “There is a real risk of local flooding from Friday to Sunday”warns the Polish weather service. The alerts concern the south of the country, especially cities located on the Oder, such as Wroclaw and Opole. The municipality of Wroclaw, where 675,000 people live, has set up a crisis unit.
Austria is preparing to deploy up to 1,000 troops if necessary, says Chancellor Karl Nehammer. The precipitation could cause the Danube to rise to levels not seen in five or even ten years. In the Austrian Alps, some of the precipitation will fall as snow. The Roman festival in Carnuntum, near the border with Slovakia, has therefore also been cancelled. The Slovak army and volunteer firefighters are also on alert. Finally, all cultural events planned in the four countries this weekend have been cancelled.
