A few days ago I did a post about the weird weather we’re experiencing in south-west France. I hadn’t realised how far it extended until I read an article this morning on the BBC News web site. Here are a few extracts from it.
Thousands flee as central Europe flood waters rise
Emergency operations are under way in Austria, Germany and the Czech Republic to deal with record levels of flooding in some places.
Landslides and flooding have led to the deaths of at least four people. At least eight people are missing.
In Germany, more than 7,000 people have been moved from their homes in the town of Eilenburg, reports say.
The Czech capital, Prague, is on high alert amid fears that floodwater could swamp its historic centre.
More than 2,500 people have been forced to leave their homes in the capital and the surrounding region, Radio Prague reports. Animals from Prague’s zoo have also been moved.
Underground stations have been closed and schools shut as Prague officials wait and see whether the Vltava River will flood its banks.
Disaster zone
Main roads in many areas of central Europe have been closed and rail services cut. In some areas, electricity has been turned off as a precaution.
Outside Prague, two people were killed and four reported missing when a house collapsed. The body of a man in his 50s was found close to swollen river waters north-east of Prague and two people are missing after their raft overturned south-west of the capital.
In Austria, the meteorological service said two months of rain had fallen in just two days.
A man was found dead near Salzburg after being swept away as he worked to clear a landslip, and three further people are missing.
More than 300 people were moved from their homes in Salzburg and the neighbouring Tyrol as the army worked with the civil authorities to clear landslides and make roads passable.
Floods have swamped parts of the Passau in Bavaria. Parts of the Pinzgau region, which includes Taxenbach, have been declared a disaster zone.
In Germany, Bavaria’s flood alert service has warned that the forecast of continuing heavy rain is likely to worsen the flooding affecting the Danube and the Inn, among other rivers in the area.
The German cities of Passau and Rosenheim have declared a state of emergency.
Authorities in Passau, which lies at the confluence of three rivers in Bavaria, said waters could rise above the record levels of 2002.
Towns and cities in Saxony, Thuringia and Baden-Wuerttemberg have also been inundated by flooding, and the army has been deployed to help with the emergency effort.
In northern Saxony, water levels on the River Mulde were said to be particularly high.
A large area of Eilenburg north-east of Leipzig was evacuated, reports said, with 7,000 people being taken to emergency shelters.
This is a really extraordinary situation. Can it all just be down to the move south of the Jetstream that I mentioned in my earlier post or can all of the events, including the move south of the Jetstream, be due to something else that we have yet to understand? Is it just coincidence that the picture I included in my post showed the Jetstream positioned to the south of all of the countries affected? I have no answer to these questions, but these catastrophic events in central Europe make our cold and wet experiences here in the Dordogne pale into insignificance in comparison and I have nothing but sympathy for the large numbers of people in several countries who have been affected by them. I sincerely hope that things improve soon and that they are able to recover and get their lives back on track again.
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