According to data from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Administration, 9,113 people were evacuated during the flood as of Friday. The largest number of such actions were undertaken by firefighters in the Opole province.
Residents of flood areas were evacuated by the fire brigade and police. Data from the Ministry of Internal Affairs show that in the Opole province, since the beginning of the flood-related crisis, firefighters have evacuated 2,830 people. In the Lower Silesia province, 1,207 people temporarily left their homes with the help of fire brigade units due to the flood. In the Silesia province, this number was around 300 people. The fewest people (82) were evacuated in the Lubuskie province and in the Małopolskie province (10).
Flood victims evacuated by the fire department (provinces)PAP
In the division into counties of the Opole province, the largest number of evacuations carried out by the fire brigade took place in the Nysa county – 1,601, followed by the Brzesko county – 626; Prudnik county – 276; Krapkowice county – 194; Głubczyce county – 100; Kędzierzyn-Koźle county – 31 and Opole county – 5 people (data from the Voivodeship Office in Opole; according to information Ministry of Interior and Administration – three people less).
Flood victims evacuated by the fire brigade in the counties of the Opole provincePAP
The police carried out a similar scale of evacuation during the same period. – The police evacuated 4,684 people, including 195 using helicopters – informed the spokesman for the Ministry of Interior and Administration, Jacek Dobrzyński.
Evacuated people found shelter in guesthouses, holiday homes, and some people found shelter with relatives. Some have already returned home, while others are waiting for when it will be possible.
Evacuation from the hospital in Nysa and ZOL in Paczków
Data on another type of evacuation – patients from flooded facilities – was summed up on Friday by the Minister of Health Isabela Leszczyna. She reported that during the flood, the services evacuated 101 patients from the district hospital in Nysa and 35 patients from the care and treatment facility in Paczków. The patients were taken to nearby facilities.
At the most dramatic moment of the evacuation in Nysa, when the water had already cut off access to the hospital for several hundred meters, patients were transported to ambulances by pontoons and boats. Soldiers also took part in the rescue operation.
The sick from the Paczków care and treatment facility, which was at risk of flooding and suffered from staff shortages (some employees were unable to get to duty), were carried on stretchers by rescuers and soldiers to military helicopters.
Firefighters and the military are evacuating the ZOL in PaczkówPAP/Marcin Kucharzewski
Evacuations of residents from flood-prone and flood-affected areas were voluntary. Services and government representatives have repeatedly emphasized that many people refused to leave their homes out of fear for their property. This changed after the government declared a state of natural disaster in the flood zone on September 16, which gave the state the right to organize compulsory evacuations. However, the administration has not yet used this tool.
During the flood in 1997, when 25 voivodeships (former administrative division) were flooded, almost 700 thousand hectares and 1362 localities were flooded. Almost 200 thousand people had to evacuate.
Main image source: TVN24