Flood in Poland 2024. Tomasz Nowicki, mayor of Lądek-Zdrój and Paweł Szymkowicz, mayor of Głuchołazy, about reconstruction after the destruction

Two months after the flood that affected southwestern Poland, the mayors of the cities that suffered the most at that time talked in “Fakty po Faktach” on TVN24 – Tomasz Nowicki, mayor of Lądek-Zdrój, and Paweł Szymkowicz, mayor of Głuchołazy. They talked, among other things, about procedures related to submitting applications for compensation and paying benefits to victims.

READ ALSO: Long procedure, few hands. How is the payment of benefits for flood victims going?

Tomasz Nowicki said that in his city, the problem with paying compensation up to PLN 200,000 was the lack of damage assessment specialists. – We, the inhabitants of a small commune like Lądek-Zdrój, do not have qualified specialists who could estimate the damage. Therefore, we quickly asked for help from experts who could come to our commune and support officials in assessing the damage, he explained.

The mayor added that such help had been obtained. – Experts from engineering chambers came to us in two rounds. And in a very short time – because they were here twice, once for three days and the second time for two days, working from early morning hours to very late at night, (…) – they carried out work in the field – Nowicki continued. .

– I would also like to appeal to all interested parties, all parliamentarians, to engage in some kind of lobbying for our injured municipalities across divisions. I think it is also a good time to think about establishing an association of municipalities affected by the flood, because we are afraid that after some time interest in our areas will disappear – said the mayor of Lądek-Zdrój. – This will be a very difficult period for us – he added.

– We would like this interest to continue, for investments to be made here, for us not only to struggle with the current effects of the flood, trying to rebuild either the infrastructure or individual houses, (…) and not to be forgotten about us – he continued.

– Even if funds up to PLN 200,000 are paid, even if there are targeted development reliefs to treat our municipalities as a priority in arranging policies in future years or systemic solutions that we could continue to use – he added.

Paweł Szymkowicz said that in the case of the Głuchołazy district he manages, the “number one goal” when it comes to fighting the effects of the flood is the payment of benefits.

– The bottleneck we face in the Głuchołazy commune when paying these large benefits is the lack of workers. Please remember that community interviews and subsequent decision-making can only be performed by a social worker. We have over forty administrative employees at the OPS (Social Welfare Center – ed.), and only twelve social workers, he continued.

– For several days now we have had support from Social Welfare Centers in the Opole Voivodeship. Of course, from these communes, which are a bit further away, because my neighbors have similar problems as me. I have good news for the residents of the Głuchołazy commune – the first people from Sopot arrived this evening, tomorrow we will accept employees from Gdynia – said the mayor of Głuchołazy. He added that these employees will help fill out applications and assess damage.