Flood in Poland. Prime Minister: Losses will be counted in billions

During the afternoon meeting of the crisis management team in Wrocław, Prime Minister Tusk spoke about money to help flood victims.

– I asked the Minister of Finance to stop deluding ourselves that the funds that have been allocated so far will be sufficient – he said. On Monday, Tusk said that a reserve of one billion zlotys had been secured for the aid.

– This billion should be enough for this emergency aid of the type 10 thousand and would probably be enough in many cases for 100 thousand or 200 thousand for construction and renovation. But the losses in infrastructure, for which the state or local government will be responsible, of course speaking about the apartments themselves, are gigantic – he said. In this way, he referred to the amounts in applications for non-refundable aid that flood victims can apply for.

On Monday, the head of government said that this was PLN 10,000 of immediate aid, as well as up to PLN 100,000 for the renovation of a flat or the reconstruction of utility rooms and PLN 200,000 for the reconstruction of residential buildings.

– Right now, before I came in here, the Minister of Finance informed me that we already have two billion złoty at our disposal. This is hard work, because – as you know – this year's budget was done, next year's is being constructed, but we have to sit down to it seriously again, because we will count these losses in billions – added the head of government.

The Prime Minister spoke about the worrying signals he has received from people affected by the flood. – These are side effects of the flood, but they are very badly perceived by people and are very painful for people. First of all, I talk to flood victims who are trying to survive somehow and are starting to clean up their flooded homes, so they need shoes or gloves, for example – he said.

– So they go to a store in a higher part of the city and find out that what they need to buy – rubber boots or gloves – are twice as expensive as they were before the flood. Apparently, this is a common phenomenon. The things that people need because of the flood have suddenly become significantly more expensive. Manufacturers or wholesalers are starting to take advantage of this dramatic situation, when demand has suddenly increased radically – assessed the head of government.

He informed that he had asked for this in connection Office of Competition and Consumer Protectionto “investigate this matter immediately and in detail”. – So that this control will enable us to effectively protect the consumer, those people who become not only victims of floods, sometimes loneliness, but also victims of other people's greed – Tusk emphasized.

– I want to clearly emphasize that it is not the most difficult or the worst place, because Kłodzko is very badly hit, but getting there was not too difficult from the very beginning (…), but in Kłodzko itself people feel that they are alone – said the head of government.

He reported that some apartments in Kłodzko were flooded up to the second floor. – I know that 500 apartments were destroyed in Kłodzko alone – the prime minister noted.