The Czech Republic has confirmed the first victim of the floods that affected a large part of the central European country, Czech police chief Martin Vondrasek announced this morning in an interview with public radio, DPA reported, quoted by BTA.
Vondrašek specified that the deceased was a person who drowned in the small river Krasova in the Moravian-Silesian Region.
Authorities said at least seven people were missing, including three believed to have been trapped under a car swept away by raging river waters near the spa resort of Jeseník, not far from the border with Poland, which is also affected by floods. So far, the vehicle has not been found.
The rest of the missing are believed to have fallen into bodies of water, such as the Ottawa River. Among them is a man from a nursing home located near the border with Poland.
Czech Prime Minister Petar Fiala said that such a flood happens once in a hundred years.
Over the weekend, streets in cities such as Jeseník, located below the Praded peak, Opava on the Opava River and Karnow on the border with Poland turned into raging torrents.
In Jeseník, emergency services managed to rescue hundreds of people using boats and helicopters. The city's mayor described the situation on television as an “apocalypse” and added: “Mud is everywhere, everything is destroyed.“
The city's central square had temporarily turned into a body of water in which cars floated. Several houses in the area collapsed, and after the waters receded there was a danger of landslides.