DStrong winds and exceptionally heavy rainfall hit large parts of Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia.
In Poland, police announced on Tuesday that they had found two more victims of the storm, bringing the official death toll to six in the country, as the floodwaters moved downstream, leaving behind devastated towns and villages.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced additional government aid for those affected, bringing the total to two billion zlotys ($520 million). Two major southern Polish cities, Opole and Wroclaw, were still waiting for the floods to arrive, fearing that their dams would burst.
The number of victims could rise, with local Polish authorities reporting other deaths, but without giving details, and especially without confirmation from the police, “the only ones authorized” to announce this type of information, according to Interior Minister Tomasz Siemoniak.
Although the weather situation seems to be improving in several places, the ground remains saturated and the rivers are bursting their banks, leading the authorities to ask the population to exercise the greatest caution.
The Copernicus programme has released images of the flooding of the Oder River in Poland, thanks to Sentinel2, a series of observation satellites. The level of the river exceeded 7 metres at the highest point in Brzeg, a town which is also visible in the top left of the image.
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