Flash floods in Southern Poland, Krakow Unaffected.
KRAKOW TOURS – Flash floods brought on by rains in central Europe and the Baltic have killed at least 15, officials say.
Rivers overflowed their banks, sending torrents of water through Bogatynia in south-west Poland and Goerlitz in eastern Germany.
The Neisse river, on the border with Poland, reached its highest recorded level in Goerlitz.
Three Poles, three Germans and five Czechs were killed, while further north in Lithuania four people were killed.
Three other Czechs were reported missing after the downpours on Saturday triggered the floods.
The army, police and fire services were using helicopters and boats to move people away from the flood zones and clear flood debris.
The heavy downpour caused Poland’s Miedzianka river to overflow, flooding Bogatynia before swelling the Niesse river.
One woman drowned in Bogatynia while a 55-year-old firefighter was swept away when a dyke burst its banks.
Another woman drowned in the nearby town of Zgorzelec, across the Niesse from Goerlitz.
The Neisse reached its highest recorded level of 7.07 metres (23 feet).
“The flood wave hit the town in a few hours. We couldn’t do anything to get ready for that,” the mayor of Goerlitz, Michael Wieler, told German TV.
Police said 1,500 people evacuated their homes in Goerlitz as torrents of water rushed through the streets.
Further west, near Chemnitz, three Germans were found drowned in the flooded cellar of the building they lived in in Neukirchen, near the Czech border.
Police said they had been trying to carry furniture upstairs.
An additional five people drowned over the weekend in the Czech Republic where people were plucked by helicopter from the roofs of their homes in the towns of Chrastava and Frydlant.
As the storms moved north, four people were killed in Lithuania. Two campers died when a tree collapsed on their tent, local media reported.
The same region was hit by heavy flooding in May and June this year, killing nearly 30 people.
Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk has promised emergency aid payouts to help people affected by the floods.
Krakow Flood – What a difference a week makes
KRAKOW TOURS – It’s just over a week since I took the photos of the very high water level in the Wisla river, here’s an update of how it looks today 28/5/2010.
The inset is a reminder of how it looked last week.
You can view the full flood pictures HERE
Horrors discovered as flood water recedes.
Damaged farms, ruined fields, trash, rotting corpses and carcasses are emerging from under water as flood is gradually subsiding in the south of Poland.
The financial losses caused by flood are hard to estimate, says the government’s crisis centre. Many roads throughout the country are still impassable and power lines still down. The death toll, which so far has reached fifteen, is still on the rise as new dead bodies are being discovered. Today, the corpse of a young girl was found in Mlynowka River in the southern region of Podbeskidzie.
Water is slowly subsiding in the region but still 150 ha are under water. In Czechowice-Dziedzice, prisoners from a correctional facility in Jastrzebie Zdroj are pumping out water from the flooded area and a rescue team is providing owners of the flooded houses with food.
In Podkarpackie region the Vistula River still exceeds the emergency level and flood alerts are still valid in several villages and the town of Tarnobrzeg, one of the towns hardest hit by flood water. Over 70 rescue workers from Ukraine are pumping out the flood water from basements, drainage ditches and fields using 12 highly efficient water pumps.
Soldiers from chemical units are preparing to disinfect flood-affected areas, from which water has already withdrawn. Inhabitants of these areas are being vaccinated against tetanus. Although the flood situation in the south of Poland is stable, it may soon deteriorate again, warns forecasts, as heavy rains and thunderstorms are expected there today.
In the Mazovia region, central Poland, water is also subsiding but sanitary services warn of epidemics as water in adjacent wells and water pipes is contaminated. In the flood-stricken areas many buildings are in danger of collapsing and will have to be demolished. Teams consisting of doctors, vets and building inspectors are visiting households to check if people are fine and houses safe enough to dwell.
After the great wave, the level of water in the Vistula River in Warsaw is going down. “It’s getting better. We are monitoring embankments every 30 minutes and so far they haven’t soaked or damaged,” Arthur Lauda from Warsaw Fire Services said. Firemen are cutting out trees on embankments in Port Czerniakowski because their weight may breach the construction.
That was the WET week that was – Krakow Floods
Wisła River flooded
After days of wet weather a 24-hour downpour dropped 20 centimetres of rain on parts of southern Poland over Sunday and Monday, the equivalent of two months’ worth of rain in one day.
The deluge led to widespread flooding, first on the Czech and Slovak borders, and then further into the heart of Poland as water flowed down the rivers Wisla and Odra.
Hundreds of homes were flooded and thousands of people displaced despite the best efforts of thousands of fire-fighters, troops and volunteers to shore up dykes and flood barriers.
Donald Tusk, the prime minister, called on people to heed evacuation warnings as water levels on the Wisla hit their highest point since the Second World War.
“I appeal to everybody to evacuate when the police or firemen come and say it is time. You must not wait,” said the PM.
“I know these are tragic decisions that have to be made, but it will only be worse if you endanger your own lives and those of the rescue teams trying to get people out of already flooded areas,” he added.
As the flood closed in on Warsaw the water river rose to 700 centimetres prompting fears of extensive flooding in the capital, and adding to the already massive bill the deluge had caused.
“I expect the losses will top EUR 2 bln and I know we will have to find more funds,” said a sombre Mr Tusk while visiting the flood stricken regions.
“We will reduce other spending to achieve that.”
With little in the way of extra cash in the state’s coffers, the government said that it might ask the EU for emergency aid.
Anna Konik-Zurawska, a regional development ministry spokeswoman, said that under EU rules Poland can draw on the European Solidarity Fund when losses surpass a certain level.
“In Poland‘s case, the European Commission set the level at EUR 2.125 billion,” she told the PAP news agency.
Auschwitz tours – Now re-instated from 20/5/10.
19/5/2010 18.31 – LATEST UPDATE – Auschwitz will re-open its doors tomorrow, however Birkenau will remain partially closed off to the public.
Unfortunately, due to the temporary closure of the Auschwitz museums KRAKOW TOURS will not be running the usual Auschwitz trips until further notice.
The flooding which has seriously effected Krakow, Katowice, Opolskie and Oswieciem (Auschwitz & Birkenau) has caused many disruptions to our usual services.
We can still offer Walking tours around Krakow, our Schindlers Steps tour, City buggy rides, Nowa Huta experience, Wieliczka Salt Mines and Ojcow National Park.
Contact us with your requirements, or book online
Krakow Floods – Latest (photo blog)
In Krakow, a major bridge was closed as the Vistula River nearly reached it.
At Auschwitz-Birkenau, the former Nazi death camp that draws about a million visitors a year, authorities carried historical documents and some artifacts, including brushes and bowls that belonged to victims, to the upper floors of old barracks that are used to house exhibits, said spokesman Jaroslaw Mensfelt.
Mensfelt said the memorial site was closed to visitors, the first time that has happened due to the threat of floods. Waters were rising in two nearby rivers, the Vistula and the Sola.
Krakow Flood
Underpass at Rondo Grunwaldskie
High tide at the new Krakow Beach
Krakow Flood
Podgorze bank looks better prepared
New bridge in danger of floating away
Wawel Castle looks safe
Underpass at Rondo Grunwaldskie
Debnicki Bridge closed
Krakow Flood
Debnicki Bridge
Krakow Flood
Krakow – on the verge of flooding disaster (updated 21.17 18/5/10)
KRAKOW TOURS – Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Interior Minister Jerzy Miller are to visit areas most affected by recent flooding throughout southern Poland.
At a meeting with journalists Tuesday morning, Miller said that “[Monday] night was not so bad for the Malopolska province, as rain came in the early hours of the morning. It was worse for Silesia, where it rained all night,” adding that “the scale of destruction may well be higher than what we saw yesterday.”
Rainfall is higher than it was in 1997, when there was widescale flooding in southern Poland as well as throughout the Czech Republic and Slovakia. According to Miller, the situation in Krakow is “similar to that of 1997.”
Donald Tusk arrived in Krakow, Monday night, where he spoke to governors of the provinces most affected by flooding.
After the meeting, Tusk said that the situation is “not completely catastrophic,” although emergency services are still working flat out to keep the flooding situation in check.
Donald Tusk said that the flood situation in the Czech Republic and Slovakia will not have an adverse effect on continuing floods in Poland. The comment came as five retention pools along the River Oder in the Czech Republic became completely full, with one town, Troubky, 90 percent under water.
Interior Minister Jerzy Miller is in communication with the Czech Minister of Defence over any potential flooding threats that might come from the Czech Republic.
Heavy rain over the weekend led many rivers to rise above warning levels. On Sunday night, Krakow mayor Jacek Majchrowski announced a state of emergency when the River Vistula was 74 cm over the warning mark in Poland’s southern city. On Tuesday morning, that level had risen to over 300 cm, with many roads and underpasses closed and river water almost reaching bridge levels.
Four people have died so far from the flooding. Two people died in Malopolska province, and one fireman suffered a heart attack during a rescue mission in neighbouring Silesia. The latest victim of the “great water” is an 8 year old boy who fell into a river in Krakow.
Krakow Tours 