Flash floods take heavy toll

Clean-up operations are underway in the southern and eastern parts of the Czech Republic where 62 towns and villages were hit by heavy floods in the past few days. Although water levels are now receding around the country, the danger is far from over with meteorologists predicting more heavy rain into the week.

Photo: CTK

Thirteen dead, hundreds of people evacuated and billions of crowns in damages – such is the present toll of the devastating floods that hit the eastern and later the southern parts of the country. The trail of devastation left by these floods is being ascribed to the speed with which they struck. Torrential rain swelled rivers and creeks within hours, sending massive flood waves sweeping through towns and villages where peopled scrambled to save their bare lives. Many are now demanding to know why they failed to receive any kind of warning. Meteorologists claim that the movement of the storms and torrential rain that caused the flooding is hard to predict, and struck with unexpected force and persistence in the night hours.

The floods hit 62 towns and villages around the country, over 50 of them in North and central Moravia where the death toll rose to 12, the rest in southern Bohemia where the damage was predominantly material.Witnesses say the death toll could have been much higher were it not for the work of some 750 firefighters and emergency crews who were at the scene, in many cases saving lives at the eleventh hour, smashing windows to bring old people out of houses and even whole families with young children who failed to hear the sirens in the middle of the night.

Photo: CTK

The army was also called into action with 1,000 troops assisting the clean-up operation once water levels had receded and teams of psychologists out in the field, helping those who have lost everything in the disaster.

Early damage assessment has been put at over 5 billion crowns but insurance companies say the figure could be higher with fresh claims coming in daily and more houses being slated for demolition. The government which earmarked 99 million crowns in emergency aid has said it is ready to increase the state deficit in order to deal with the effects of the worst natural disaster since 2002 when high water killed 17 people and flooded Prague’s historic centre. But even now, it is not clear if the country has seen the worst of these floods. A state of alert remains in place across the country, with more torrential rain predicted in the coming days.