Flooding Across the Country Due to Intense Rainfall

Poland struggles with floods as intense rainfall causes rivers to overflow in several parts of the country. In south-eastern Poland, it rained practically non-stop for several days. Even though bad weather had been expected and the authorities had warned against intense rainfall and wind, nature caused much damage to numerous households.

The Institute of Meteorology and Water Management (IMGW) cautions about dangerous weather conditions in five out of sixteen Polish voivodships. Storm and hydrologic warnings as well as flood warnings have been issued. In the southern regions, the warnings are of the third – the highest – degree.

The Major Impacts of Intense Rainfall:

The Government Emergency Centre sent out text messages to the inhabitants with notifications about upcoming weather and suggested not leaving home. Water is causing much damage to property and infrastructure. Fortunately, no people have died so far.

At this moment, most damage is being done in the Lesser Poland and Subcarpathian voivodships where there are numerous reports of flooded houses, basements, roads and rail tracks. People across the country were moved by dramatic images coming from a local dog shelter that needed to be quickly evacuated after it went underwater. Even though all animals found temporary foster homes or were moved to different locations, shelter facilities got ruined.

The citizens are getting help from firefighters as well as the army. Flooded areas are visited by representatives of the Polish government, including the Prime Minister and the Minister of Social Policy. On Friday and Saturday, the flood wave is to reach Krakow, one of the biggest cities in the south of Poland. So far, over 300 buildings have been flooded, and fire brigades have intervened more than 1,200 times.

PZU, Poland’s leading insurance company, reported over 600 more instances of devastation caused by intense rainfall compared with May 2018. Even though the weather seems to be getting better, weather forecasters warn that this is not the end to intense rainfall in Poland and that we can expect the weather to worsen next week.