Flooding in Czech Republic. Four people carried away by raging rivers

The authorities of the Czech Republic Cieszyn decided on Sunday morning to start evacuating the district located near the rising Olza River. The evacuation is preventive, the river is still in its bed.

– The evacuation concerns several thousand people. We assume that some of them will go to a safe place to their loved ones. Others are to move to the primary school on Śląska Street. We are also preparing other evacuation centers – said city spokeswoman Natasza Cibulkova. The level of the Olza River in Český Těšín has increased by almost three meters in the last 24 hours. The flow of water intensified after midnight. The first level of the flood alarm was in force there from 1 a.m. The third was announced an hour later. The water in the Olza River is almost five meters high. “In connection with this, the evacuation of residents of houses on Na Olszynach Street and the entire city center has been ordered” – the city hall informed on its Facebook profile. People are to take their evacuation luggage and go to the primary school on Śląska Street.

The border bridges with the Czech Republic – Wolności and Przyjaźni – have been closed to pedestrian and vehicle traffic. The bridge on the S52 expressway in Boguszowice is open – the police reported on Sunday morning. Flood alarms have been announced in the Bielsk and Cieszyn counties.

Firefighters reported that in Cieszyn, water appeared on the roads in many places. The Śląsk Cieszyński 112 portal reported in the morning that driving towards Puńcowo along Aleja Łyska is impossible. “A pond has formed at the bottom of Błogocice, everything is flooded and you can't drive there,” they indicated. District Governor Janina Żagan declared a flood alarm in Cieszyn County. District Governor Andrzej Płonka did the same for Bielsk County, where firefighters had intervened 705 times by 6 a.m. “It's hard to say where it's worst. It's terrible everywhere, although the situation is particularly bad in Czechowice-Dziedzice and Jasienica,” said Płonka. Czechowice-Dziedzice reported that residents of Wierzbowa Street are being evacuated. “A special bus has parked near the intersection of Legionów Street and Waryńskiego Street,” they reported. After heavy rainfall overnight, there are traffic difficulties: among others, national road 1 is impassable on the section from ul. Ligocka to ul. Legionów in both directions. The situation in the morning was very difficult. Ustroń. Mayor Paweł Sztefek reported that there were floods. – The Młynówka stream overflowed after midnight. Many streets and houses in the city center were flooded. (…) Houses and roads in almost every district are flooded. Firefighters from the Volunteer Fire Department, supported by units from neighboring municipalities and cities, stood to fight the element – Sztefek announced on social media, adding that the river Vistula at night it reached almost three meters. – This means that in a few hours, it quickly rose by over 1.5 meters – he indicated. The mayor of Skoczów, Rajmund Dedio, informed that not only the Vistula River was rising in the city. The level of the Bładnica River also rose. – Only 30 centimeters are missing to leave the riverbed in the city. Unfortunately, the Pogórzanka in Pogórze flooded – the area at ul. Zamek is flooded. It is not possible to drive under the S52 expressway. Services are also operating in many other places, including Międzyświeć, where the Bładnica River flooded. There, 21 residents were evacuated, whose houses were flooded – he said. The spokesman for the Bielsko city hall, Tomasz Ficoń, said that the situation in the city was stabilizing; it was worst at night. At that time, floodwaters formed on the streets.

In the Czech Republic, four people are being sought who were carried away by raging rivers. Three people were in a car in the Jeseníky Mountains. One person fell into a river in the Uherské Hradíšté district in the Zlín region.

In the Jeseníky Mountains, in the north of the country, a car with four people drove into the Staržič River in the Lipova commune. One person got out of the vehicle, while the others were carried away by the river. The police are treating three people as missing and wanted. A 54-year-old man who was cleaning the area around his house near Jankovický Potok, a tributary of the Morava River, has a similar missing person status. The man could not be pulled out of the rising water.

The latest information on the flood situation from Sunday indicates a suspension of train traffic on one of the main corridors in the Czech Republic from Olomouc to Ostrava. Trains heading towards Ostrava and Poland are stopped in Olomouc. Those heading from Poland to the Czech Republic end their journey in Bohumín. The railway management announced that it is trying to provide replacement bus transport on this route. At the same time, it appealed to people to refrain from travelling on this route. The latest information predicts that the Třebovice heat and power plant, which supplies hot water to about 70 thousand households in Ostrava, will be shut down. Despite the flood control action lasting for many hours, including the laying of a wall made of sandbags, water began to enter the plants. In the Czech Republic, the third level of alert and flood risk has been exceeded in 22 places on various rivers and water bodies. The scale of the threat is so serious that the term “risk of extreme flood” has been used. In parts of the country, where the risk of flooding is the highest, it is still raining. According to information presented after the Saturday evening meeting of the central crisis team, the forecasts are pushing back the end of the rain. Initially, it was said that it should stop from Sunday to Monday and end on Monday. Now it is said for Tuesday.