Eight people have drowned in Austria, Poland, and Romania, while four others are missing in the Czech Republic as Storm Boris continues to batter central and eastern Europe. The storm has brought heavy rain, resulting in widespread flooding and forcing thousands to evacuate their homes.
Werner Kogler, Austria’s vice-chancellor, said that a firefighter had died while tackling floods in Lower Austria on Sunday. The province has been declared a disaster area.
Some areas of Tirol were covered by a metre of snow—unusual for mid-September, which saw temperatures of up to 30°C last week.
On Saturday, Polish authorities closed the Gołwice border crossing with the Czech Republic after a river burst its banks. Several roads were also closed, and train services on the line connecting the towns of Prudnik and Nysa were suspended.
In Budapest, officials revised forecasts, predicting the Danube River could rise above 8.5 metres in the second half of this week, nearing the record 8.91 metres set in 2013, as heavy rain continued across Hungary, Slovakia, and Austria.
Meanwhile, Czech police reported four people missing on Sunday. Three were in a car swept into a river in the northeastern town of Lipová-lázně, while another man was carried away by floods in the southeast.
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