'We are drowning': Extreme rains sweep Europe as floods kill at least 16
Storm Boris brought extreme rainfall over the weekend leading to devastating floods across Central Europe, as ITV correspondent Sejal Karia reports
At least 16 people have died after severe flooding swept across Europe, leading to widespread evacuations and helicopter rescues.
Record rainfall has caused flooding in several central European countries since Thursday, including Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland and Romania.
Hungary and Slovakia may also be impacted by torrential rains and flooding in the coming days.
Five people have died due to flooding in Poland and the town of Nysa flooding was so bad they had to evacuate a hospital.
A town underwater in northeastern Czech Republic
The bodies of two women and two men were found separately in the towns of Bielsko-Biala and Lądek-Zdrój and in two villages.
Floods in those areas have since subsided, but concerns have been raised about the cities of Opole and Wroclaw - home to some 130,000 residents and 640,000 people respectively.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has announced a financial support fund of one billion zlotys (£197m) towards flooding victims.
In the town of Klodzko, helicopters had to rescue people from roofs.
In Gluchalozy, a town bordering the Czech Republic, Mayor Paweł Szymkowicz appealed to residents to seek higher ground.
"We are drowning," he said.
Flood waters killed six in the eastern Romanian county of Galati. Elsewhere, a firefighter was killed while pumping out a flooded basement in Austria.
Czech authorities issued the highest possible flood warnings in around 100 places.
In the city of Opava, up to 10,000 people out of a population of around 56,000 have been asked to move to higher ground.
“There’s no reason to wait,” Mayor Tomáš Navrátil told Czech public radio. He said that the situation was worse than during the last devastating floods in 1997, known as the “flood of the century".
Prime Minister Petr Fiala said on Sunday that the authorities "have to focus on saving lives".
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He said: "The worst is behind us and now, we have to deal with all the damage."
Seven people remain missing in the Czech Republic after being swept away by flooding, while 260,000 households were left without power on Sunday morning.
Austrian authorities have declared the entire state of Lower Austria in the north-east of the country a disaster zone, with 1,100 houses evacuated in the region so far.
The municipality of Lilienfeld, with about 25,000 residents, has been cut off from the outside world by floodwaters.
Johanna Mikl-Leitner, the governor of Lower Austria, said: “We are experiencing difficult and dramatic hours.
"For many people in Lower Austria, these will probably be the most difficult hours of their lives."
In Hungary, the mayor of Budapest warned residents that the largest floods in a decade were expected to hit the capital later in the week, with the waters of the Danube River set to breach the city’s lower quays by Tuesday morning.
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán cancelled his planned foreign engagements, including an address to a plenary session of the European Parliament on Wednesday where heated debates were expected over his conduct since Hungary took over the European Union’s rotating presidency in July.
“Until we reach the peak and get past the worst of it, I naturally won’t be leaving the country, I’ll be here at home,” he said.
Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony wrote on Facebook that the city would use one million sandbags to bolster flood defences, and asked residents to take extra care when near the river.
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