We have learned our lesson after 1997. We really prepared well for this flood – said senator and former president of Nowa Sól Wadim Tyszkiewicz on Sunday in “Fakty po Faktach”. He also emphasized that “it is not about just defending the city”. – There are places where there are old German embankments, where seepage can occur, embankments can break – he warned. In Lądek Zdrój in Lower Silesia, cleaning up after the great flood is underway. The scale of destruction is enormous. – It was a picture of Armageddon – said TVN24 journalist Radomir Wit.
Nowa Sól (Lubuskie Province) is preparing for a big flood. The peak wave is expected to enter the city tonight.
– We are one of the few cities in Poland, such as Opole, that did their homework after 1997. We really prepared well for this flood – said on Sunday in “Fakty po Faktach” Wadim Tyszkiewicz, a non-affiliated senator, and mayor of Nowa Sól in 2002-2019.
As he recalled, nearly three decades ago there was a “flood of the millennium”. – This year it will be comparable, (…) but it is definitely calmer – he assessed. At the same time, he noted that “there is no safe height of walls”. – Water levels may be exceeded, so we are preparing for every eventuality – he emphasized.
– We knew that this water was coming to us. We approach what happened in the south with great humility. The local government officials, residents of these cities and municipalities, did not have as much time as we did. We had at least five, six days to prepare for it. And that's what happened. You really have to have great humility towards nature and phenomena that cannot be predicted – said the senator.
Nowa Sól (September 21)PAP/Lech Muszynski
“It's not about just defending the city”
He recalled that preparations for securing the city had been underway for many years. – We have a flood wall, we have bulkheads prepared, we have a retaining wall that protects the city from water pouring in, we have a sewage pumping station on the Czarna Struga river, which protects against backflow – he listed.
– We did everything that was needed. We also poured bags, put in additional protection, prepared for even higher water. Because if the water was, for example, 10-20 centimeters higher than forecast, we also had to be prepared for that. We strengthened the weak points according to us – he reported. He noted that the flood wall in Nowa Sól was built in 2016. – A lot has passed since then. So we identified all the weak points, we also assigned special patrols that patrol the city 24 hours a day, patrol the flood embankments – described the senator.
The Odra River in Nowa Sól. Photo from September 19 PAP/Lech Muszynski
He emphasized that assistance is also provided to the surrounding municipalities. – It is not about just defending the city, because I hope that the city will defend itself. But there are places where there are German embankments, old ones, where seepages can occur, the embankments can break – he said. He added that in the last week he spent more time on the embankments in the surrounding municipalities than in Nowa Sól itself.
– Nowa Sól is really well secured. But there is always a “but”. That is why we are keeping watch today and I hope that it will end well – he said.
“It was a picture of Armageddon”
In Lądek Zdrój in Lower Silesia, cleanup is underway after a flood. The scale of the destruction is enormous.
– I still remember very well those Monday scenes, when we came here with my mother, not really knowing what to expect here. It was the moment when there was no communication yet, when there was no signal, no mobile phone, no communication at all. Lądek was de facto cut off from the world, so there was no awareness of what had happened here and what it looked like – said Radomir Wit, a journalist from TVN24 associated with Lądek.
– The image I saw on Monday, which I will probably always remember, was an image of Armageddon. Broken bridges, viaducts, demolished apartments, tenement houses, buildings near the river. Those first mobilizations, people cleaning up, trying to save what they could, take out what they could – he related.
Dramatic effects of flooding in Lądek-Zdrój. “It was a picture of Armageddon”TVN24
He noted that the situation in Lądek today is completely different. – The way the services, volunteers, people who came to help operate here, how the help is coordinated. These are two completely different worlds between what was on Monday and what I saw when I arrived here on Saturday – he said. He added that “for people who live in Lądek, this is just the beginning of the road”.
– I will return to Warsaw, I do not live here every day, and people who have lost all their life assets are left with this challenge, with this tragedy, with this drama – he said, appealing for support for residents.
Main image source: PAP/Lech Muszynski