Storm Boris rampages by jap Europe leaving at the least six lifeless

At least six people are dead after torrential rain and flooding caused by Storm Boris wreaked havoc in eastern Europe. 

A firefighter died during a flood rescue mission in an Austrian province declared a disaster zone, it was announced today. 

Four people were killed in south eastern Romania yesterday in the worst-affected region, Galati, where 5,000 homes were damaged. 

Emil Dragomir, the mayor of Slobozia Conachi, a village in Galati, declared: ‘This is a catastrophe of epic proportions.’

Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis blamed climate change for the ‘dramatic consequences’. 

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‘We must continue to strengthen our capacity to anticipate extreme weather phenomena,’ he said.

‘Severe floods that have affected a large part of the country have led to loss of lives and significant damage.

‘We are again dealing with the effects of climate change, which are increasingly present throughout the European continent, with dramatic consequences on people.’ 

Hundreds of people have been rescued across 19 parts of the country, emergency services said, releasing a video of flooded homes in a village by the Danube river. 

Poland‘s Prime Minister Donald Tusk confirmed this morning one person drowned in the Klodzko region where 1,600 people have been evacuated and 17,000 are without power. 

Mr Tusk took the decision to use Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites with the internet and moblie phone signal not working in some locations in the area.  

Polish authorities have called in the army to support firefighters.

Meanwhile, a military Blackhawk helicopter was called in and deployed to Klodzko’s capital, Wroclaw, reported the BBC, where thousands of people at a high-rise tower blocks had to use the staircases to escape as the lifts were shut as a safety precaution. 

In Glucholazy, Poland’s south western Opole region, people have today been urged to scramble to higher ground after the river burst its banks and began to flood the town. 

Resident Zofia Owsiaka, 65, watched with fear as the fast-flowing waters of the swollen Biala river surged past.

‘Water is the most powerful force of nature. Everyone is scared,’ she said.

While in the country’s second largest city Krakow, sandbags are being offered as a way to protect homes. 

In Czechia, 50,000 homes have been left without power in the north with police reporting today that four people are missing.

Three were in a car that was swept into a river in the northeastern town of Lipova-Lazne, and another man was missing after being swept away by floods in the southeast.

A dam in the south of the country burst its banks, flooding towns and villages downstream.

Speaking ahead of the weekend, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said ‘we have to be ready for worst-case scenarios’. 

‘A tough weekend is ahead of us,’ he warned. 

The flood barriers have been raised in Prague and the embankments have been closed to the public as the storm continues to rage. 

Some areas of Austria’s Tyrol region were blanketed by up to three feet of snow – an exceptional situation for mid-September, which saw temperatures of up to 30C last week.

Rail services were suspended in the country’s east early today and several metro lines were shut down in the capital Vienna, where the Wien river was threatening to overflow its banks, according to the APA news agency.

Firefighters have intervened around 150 times in Vienna since Friday to clear roads blocked by storm debris and pump water from cellars, local media reported.

In total, 24 villages in the Lower Austria province have been declared as disaster zones with evacuation orders being made since yesterday afternoon.   

Neighbouring Slovakia has declared a state of emergency in the capital, Bratislava.

Since Thursday, swathes of Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia have been hit by high winds and unusually fierce rainfall.