At least 7 dead as heaviest rain in decades hits parts of central and eastern Europe

At least seven people have died after some of the heaviest rain in years hit central and Eastern Europe, causing flooding and widespread disruption.

A slow-moving low pressure system dubbed Storm Boris dumped a month’s worth of rain onto several of Europe’s historic capitals, including Vienna, Bratislava and Prague. The heavy rainfall continued to pummel the region into Sunday 15 Sep.

In Poland, one person drowned in Klodzko county and authorities advised residents of Moszczanka and Laka Prudnicka to evacuate after a dam at risk of collapse breached on Sunday. In Austria, a firefighter died in action on Sunday, the fire department told CNN. In Romania, a fifth person was also confirmed to have died from flooding on Sunday, CNN affiliate Antena 3 reported.

Rescuers have been working hard to rescue hundreds of people left stranded by heavy rainfall there. “The effects were most critical in seven localities,” Romania’s Interior Minister Cătălin Predoiu told Antena 3. Although teams managed to save 95 people trapped in their homes, the bodies of the dead were found in either their houses or yards, Predoiu added.

Around 5,400 houses have been damaged in the southeastern region of Galati which has been hardest hit by the flooding, Antena 3 reported.

Rescue services have been launched in hard-hit counties as authorities warn that they have recorded the heaviest rainfall in 100 years over the past 24 hours.  Rivers have burst their banks in Poland and the Czech Republic. In southwest Poland, 1,600 people were evacuated in Klodzko county as local rivers reached record high water levels and broke their banks. Klodzko, a town of 25,000, was left partially submerged in water on Sunday.

Since the beginning of the extreme rains, more than 10,500 people have been evacuated in the Czech Republic, General Director of the Fire Rescue Service Vladimír Vlček told CNN Prima News

“Water is flowing over the whole of Krnov. We estimate that 70-80% of the town is under water. The water is almost at the town hall. The square is two-thirds flooded,” the town’s deputy mayor, Miroslav Binar said,