Flood in Poland. Destruction on recordings. This is what cities look like after the element passes

A dramatic flood situation in mid-September affected southern Poland. Water from a broken dam in Stronie Śląskie flooded other towns such as Lądek-Zdrój, Kłodzko, Ołdrzychowice, Stójków and Żelazno. Many residents of these regions lost their entire lives. The element destroyed everything in its path from infrastructure to private properties. After the flood had passed, a major clean-up and counting of losses began.

On Sunday, September 15th in the afternoon, the first information appeared that a dam on a dry flood control reservoir on the Morawka River had burst in Stronie Śląskie. The great water rushed into the city, destroying everything in its path. The deputy mayor of Stronie Śląskie, Lech Kawecki, in an interview with TVN24 reporter Jan Piotrowski, said that the city was completely destroyed, and the losses were initially estimated at one billion złoty. – The police station is gone, some of the buildings are to be demolished. I don't know if we will recover mentally from this – said the deputy mayor.

A few weeks after the flood, we can see garbage floating in the water, destroyed road infrastructure, and the work of residents and services to restore life in the city to normal.

Everything that was previously in the houses – wardrobes, armchairs, piles of books, clothes, baby carriages – was mixed with the mud and turned into a mountain of garbage. New and old RTV and household appliances were completely destroyed after the flooding, they have to be thrown away.

“The army is helping to pump out water from flooded areas and is removing flood debris. Temporary bridges are being built in Głuchołazy, Krapkowice-Żywocice, Stronie Śląskie and Lądek Zdrój. Soldiers from the chemical troops have started work at full speed. They are disinfecting homes, schools and public buildings with safe agents,” he reported on Tuesday on the X portal. Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz head of the Ministry of National Defense.

Lądek Zdrój is a town of several thousand inhabitants and a famous spa town in the Kłodzko Valley. On Saturday, September 14, Biała Lądecka flooded several streets there. The disaster to the pearl of Polish spas came on Sunday, September 15, after a dam burst in Stronie Śląskie, located above Lądek, and a large flood, around noon, devastated the town. The element destroyed roads, tore off bridges, and flooded buildings.

Two weeks after the flood, the city is almost cleaned up. The mayor of Lądek-Zdrój, Tomasz Nowicki, said that this is the case, for example, in the Market Square, where – as he said – tons of garbage were taken away. “The main streets in the city have been cleared and cleaned up. We want the residents to feel that the work is intensive and that you can see its effects,” the mayor said.

He added that access to infrastructure is improving. Drinking water and electricity supplies have been restored in the city. “There is still a problem with gas,” the mayor said.

Nowicki emphasized that the scale of destruction in the city is still very visible. “Buildings that have practically fallen in half – these are witnesses to the drama that has befallen us. People are working very intensively on their own in their homes. We are afraid that after doing this physical work, a time of mental crisis may come, because people will realize what they have just lost and how great a trauma it is for us, as a society,” Nowicki said.

Residents who cannot return to their homes are staying in hotels and guesthouses in Lądek and the surrounding area. After the flood wave passed, more than 100 people were left homeless.

On Sunday, September 15, the great flood reached Kłodzko. According to the Institute of Meteorology and Water Management, the water level on the river was then as high as 798 centimeters, which is over 550 centimeters above the alarm level and almost 150 centimeters more than the record from 1997. The next day, when the water receded, a major cleanup began. Roads were destroyed, houses flooded, the city was in a deplorable state. The fire department, police, army and crisis management began a major cleanup of the flood effects. Many residents lost their homes.

This time, the water also entered the church. As the guardian of the order indicated in an interview with TVN24, it reached a height of about three meters. – Everything was floating at a height of three meters. Only today, after the water subsided, we were able to determine the damage, see what it all looks like – said the monk. Asked about the scale of the damage, he considered it similar to that in 1997.

In Ołdrzychowice Kłodzkie, water destroyed all the nearby bridges after the dam in Stronie Śląskie burst. Almost two weeks after the flood, destroyed road infrastructure could still be seen along the streets.

In Stojkowo, a village in the Lądek-Zdrój commune, the element flooded apartments and destroyed roads. Mountains of waste, including destroyed furniture, household appliances, and clothes can still be seen in the yards of private properties.

The village of Żelazno is located in the Kłodzko district (Lower Silesian Voivodeship). The Biała Lądecka River caused its residents huge problems after it turned into a torrent at the peak, flooding everything around. After the water level decreased and residents began to dry their houses, kilometers of garbage can still be seen along the streets: furniture, mattresses, tires, clothes, etc.

One of the villagers admitted in a conversation with a TVN24 reporter that the flood of 1997 was “one third of what it is now”. – The water was up to the windows in the house. There is no farm, I have nothing – she told a TVN24 reporter. – My possessions are a bucket and a shovel – she said.