Over 500 people evacuated from Ostrava-Privoz due to cracked dam

Firefighters have already rescued almost 500 people, including children, from Ostrava-Privoz, where evacuations began on Monday morning. A fifty-meters-long crack appeared in the dam at the confluence of the Opava and Odra rivers, letting out a stream of 100 cubic metres of water per second that directly threatened parts of Ostrava. The evacuations continued on Monday evening with boats and a helicopter.  The evacuees are being transported by buses to an evacuation centre the town has set up at Černá louka. On Monday evening firemen managed to close part of the opening in the dam with 200 sandbags.

While water levels have started receding in some areas, 194 places in the Czech Republic remain on high flood alert. South Bohemia is now most at risk.