Flood risk across Poland
PR dla Zagranicy
Tomasz Ferenc
25.05.2019 07:30
The government has warned Poles of a high flood risk across the country on Saturday and Sunday.
Flood alert in the southern Polish town of Ruda.Photo: PAP/Darek Delmanowicz
The Government Centre for Security (RCB) on Friday evening evening sent out text messages alerting people in several provinces across Poland over intense rainfall and possible storms causing a risk of local flooding and power outages over the weekend.
On Wednesday and Thursday, many Poles were hit by heavy rains, extreme weather and flooding in the south of the country.
By Friday afternoon rivers had crossed alert levels in 37 sites in Poland’s southern Śląskie, Małopolskie, Podkarpackie and Dolnośląskie provinces, while exceeding warning levels in 91 places, Polish Radio’s IAR news agency reported, citing Poland's Meteorology Institute.
On Tuesday and Wednesday alone, firefighters were called out more than 3,000 times to deal with the aftermath of strong winds and intense rainfall in Poland’s southern regions, said Paweł Frątczak, a spokesman for the State Fire Service.
On Friday, Polish Radio's IAR news agency reported that firefighters were called out over 3,300 times in the past 24 hours.
Frątczak added that almost 1,100 buildings had been flooded as a result of heavy rainfall nationwide, and that 49 people had been evacuated from residential areas, chiefly in the south.