Latest news First fatality in floods in Poland

There has been a first fatality in the floods in Poland. "We have the first confirmed death by drowning here, in the Klodzko district," said Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who was attending a meeting of the task force there. He did not give any more details at first. Tusk repeated his appeal to the population to take the authorities' evacuation calls seriously and to get to safety in good time. "The situation is dramatic in many places."

The small Lower Silesian town of Klodzko with 26,000 inhabitants is located one hundred kilometers south of Breslau (Wroclaw) on the Glatzer Neisse, a tributary of the Oder. The situation there worsened during the night. On Sunday morning, the water level of the Glatzer Neisse was 6.65 meters. An average water level of one meter is normal, a spokesman for the local fire department told the German Press Agency.

Head of government Tusk said that 1,600 people had been brought to safety in the Klodzko district. He expected further evacuations. Air force helicopters were on their way to Wroclaw and rescue helicopters were also being used. In parts of the flooded areas, the power supply has been interrupted and there are problems with mobile communications in some places. The waterworks in Klodzko warned that the tap water was no longer suitable for drinking and had to be boiled.

Evacuations in the Opole region

The situation also worsened elsewhere. In the village of Glucholazy in the Opole region, sirens were wailing in the morning. The authorities there ordered a forced evacuation from all threatened districts because the Biala Glucholaska river had burst its banks. The Meteorological Institute distributed pictures on X showing that large parts of the town are under water.

Provisional protective walls and a bridge in Glucholazy have already been flooded, it said. "We are bringing everyone to safety, whether they want to or not," Mayor Pawel Szymkowicz told TVN24. The masses of water could tear away the bridge in the village at any time. Rescue work would then be difficult.

SDA