More rivers spill banks in central European floods, death toll rises
While rivers in the Czech-Polish border area were starting to recede on Monday, flooding was widening to more parts and leaving bigger cities in both countries on alert.
In the Czech Republic, a rising Morava River overnight put Litovel, a city 230km east of the capital Prague with a population of nearly 10,000, around 70 per cent under water and shut down schools and health facilities, its mayor said in a video on Facebook.
Flooded parts of northeastern Czech regional capital Ostrava forced closures of a power plant supplying heat and hot water to the city as well as two chemical plants.
More than 12,000 people have been evacuated in the Czech Republic, Prime Minister Petr Fiala said on Sunday evening on X as he called an extraordinary government session for Monday.
Czech Television reported the first confirmed victim on Monday, adding to casualties across the region.
In Romania, the flooding killed six people over the weekend, and an Austrian firefighter died on Sunday. A man drowned in Poland on Sunday. Infrastructure Minister Dariusz Klimczak said he had information on a second death, which Reuters could not immediately verify.
Source: CNA