At least four people were found dead in eastern Romania after torrential rains left hundreds trapped in flooded areas, emergency authorities said Saturday.
Rescue teams rushed to rescue those hit hard in the eastern provinces of Galati and Vaslui. The emergency services said the bodies of three elderly women and a man were found in four areas.
Emergency officials released video footage showing rescuers evacuating people from the muddy water in small lifeboats, some of them elderly, to safety.
Some of the most severe flood damage was concentrated in Galati, where 5,000 homes were affected. Black Hawk helicopters were also deployed to assist with search and rescue efforts.
The storm hit 19 regions across eight Romanian provinces, with strong winds knocking down dozens of trees, damaging vehicles and blocking roads and traffic. Authorities sent text messages warning residents of the severe weather as emergency services raced to clear floodwaters from homes.
Romania’s Environment Minister Mircea Pechet told The Associated Press that some heavily flooded areas have received more than 160 liters (42 gallons) of rain per square meter (about 10.7 square feet), which is unusual.
Central European countries including the Czech Republic, Poland, Austria, Germany, Slovakia and Hungary were hit by heavy rain over the weekend, with severe flooding expected.
In the Czech Republic, rivers have reached dangerously high levels in many parts of the country, forcing authorities to evacuate hundreds of people, including hospitals in the country’s second-largest city of Brno, to escape devastating flooding.
By Saturday evening, Czech authorities had declared the highest flood warning in more than 70 areas across the country and said thousands more people should prepare to be evacuated as rain continues to pour down.
In neighboring Austria, authorities declared 24 towns in the northeastern state of Lower Austria a “disaster zone” on Saturday afternoon and began evacuating residents from the area.
Heavy rains have caused the Danube River in the Austrian capital Vienna to surge in water levels. Special flood relief channels built in the 1970s and 1980s are likely to be tested over the weekend. The Kamp River, a tributary of the Danube, is also overflowing due to the unprecedented weather phenomenon.
Heavy rains also fell in Moldova on Saturday, with emergency workers pumping floodwaters out of dozens of homes in several areas and some power outages in 13 areas across three districts, authorities said.
In Poland, many people were evacuated from two villages near the town of Nisa on the Nisa River on Saturday as a precautionary measure after meteorologists warned of unprecedented rainfall. Some farms were flooded.
