Torrential rain has caused heavy flooding across southern Poland

This week's floods have left few unaffected, as the heavy rainfall has left its mark on many spheres – business, social and political.

Thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes in southern Poland with the water levels of some rivers reaching up to 7.45 meters. Rescue workers have been working around the clock, building temporary levies in an attempt to stop the water from spreading into the cities.


Heavy rains that began in central Europe last weekend are causing flooding in areas of Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, with rivers bursting their banks and inundating low-lying homes and roads, and cutting off villages. Rail travel is also paralyzed in places, rendering some areas unreachable.

In Krakow, continuing heavy rain led the Mayor of Krakow, Jacek Majchrowski, to declare a state of emergency at 22:00 Sunday night, after the Vistula rose above emergency levels in the city. Many other towns across the region have followed suit. In Krakow three major bridges have been closed as the Vistula River nearly reached them. Many regional roads in the province have been closed, as well as in the city of Krakow, some of whose main arteries near the river Vistula have flooded. The Krakow-Zakopane train line is also affected by the adverse weather conditions.

At Auschwitz-Birkenau, the former Nazi death camp that draws about a million visitors a year, authorities carried historical documents and some artifacts, including brushes and bowls that belonged to victims, to the upper floors of old barracks that are used to house exhibits. Officials closed the Auschwitz-Birkenau memorial site on Tuesday to protect its Holocaust archives.

Flash floods in Poland turned more dramatic Thursday as the swollen Vistula River broke its dykes near Sandomierz, central Poland, spilling into the town of 25,000 residents and stretching as far as seven kilometers from the usual stream channel. Many have been stranded in their homes in villages near Sandomierz, with water five to six meters deep. They are unable to call for help as power outages have made phone communication impossible in some areas. Thursday morning, news channel TVN24 showed live footage of the area, taken from a helicopter, with people on rooftops waving white cloth. The situation worsened in many regions as people refuse to leave their homes for fear their abandoned property would be looted.

Meanwhile, the peak wave on the Vistula is moving north faster than expected and is likely to reach Warsaw late Thursday afternoon. The head of the regional government told a news briefing this morning that river banks in Warsaw could withstand water as deep as eight meters, while the forecast peak level is seen around 7.8 meters, the highest level in the country’s post-war history.

Poland will likely ask the EU for financial help to cope with damage caused by the floods. To be eligible for assistance from the so-called EU Solidarity Fund, the damage must exceed €2 billion.“We fear that the damage may be even bigger,” Prime Minister Donald Tusk told a news briefing overnight before embarking on more tours of the flooded regions.