Evacuations as tail of Storm Boris floods northeast Italy

Italian authorities evacuated some 1,000 people from their homes as the tail end of Storm Boris hit a northeastern region that was devastated by deadly flooding last year, regional authorities said.

The strong winds and rains which have swept across central and eastern Europe, killing 24 people, lashed the Emilia-Romagna and Marche regions on Wednesday, leaving some towns under water.

Deputy Transport Minister Galeazzo Bignami told a press conference that two people were missing after they took refuge on a roof which then collapsed.

Schools closed and trains were cancelled on Thursday as the rains lashed the same area hit by two floods in May 2023, which killed 17 people and caused billions of euros in damage.

Locals in Faenza told Local Team journalists they blamed authorities for fresh damage to their homes.

"There's one and a half metres of water in my house, again, after I'd just finished refurbishing it," one unnamed resident was quoted as saying.

Over 1,000 people have been evacuated, regional Emilia-Romagna authorities told AFP Thursday.

"We are in a full emergency," Ravenna mayor Michele De Pascale told Radio 24, saying the situation was "very similar to what we had last May (2023)".

"The population is on high alert," said Emilia-Romagna's acting president, Irene Priolo, told Radio Rai 1, adding that last year 45,000 people were evacuated but that the damage this time was not expected to be as extensive.

Priolo defended her administration, saying "so many construction works have been carried out" since the flooding last year.

Storm Boris has brought widespread flooding and torrential rain, with victims in Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland and Romania.

Experts say climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions generated by human activities is increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events such as torrential rains and floods.

EU chief to meet several leaders of flood-hit nations

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is due to meet leaders of several flood-hit nations in the Polish city of Wrocław, Poland's government has said.

"Von der Leyen will visit Wroclaw on 19 September," the Polish government's press office said.

It added that she would hold talks in the western city with Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico.

Brussels said the visit was at the invitation of Mr Tusk.

"President von der Leyen will visit the area at risk in Wrocław to assess the situation created by the recent heavy floods and rains that have hit Poland," commission deputy chief spokesperson Arianna Podesta told reporters.

Together with the four leaders, "she will discuss the actions taken by the authorities to respond to this crisis," she added.

Poland's Finance Minister Andrzej Domański told a crisis meeting in Wrocław that Poland had set aside 2 billion zlotys (€467 million) in funds to deal with the effects of the floods.

Mr Tusk said there had been reports of soaring prices for many products in flood-hit areas and he did not rule out the introduction of price controls.

He also said the government would pay instalments of the mortgages of people whose houses had been flooded for a year.

Czech Finance Minister Zbyněk Stanjura said he would like parliament to approve an amendment to the budget to make room for flood relief, even though the cost of the damage is still not known.

Mr Stanjura said it could perhaps be in the order of €3.5 billion.

Mayors of some Czech towns in the Opava River area demanded that this weekend's elections for regional assemblies and one third of the upper house of parliament be postponed due to a lack of power and flooding of polling stations.

However, the government has decided to carry on with the vote, saying that makeshift voting stations and other improvised solutions would be used.

Meanwhile, Wroclaw is bracing for peaking flood waters, with early indications its defences were holding firm, after the worst floods in at least two decades ravaged central Europe this week.

The flood wave that has inundated the Polish-Czech border region since the weekend reached Wroclaw overnight, but there were no signs of serious damage initially.

"It is too early to announce that the flood in Wroclaw has been overcome," Mr Tusk said during a meeting with a crisis team.

"I would prefer that we hold on nervously and try to guess ... the increase in the state of rivers as accurately as possible," he added.

Agnieszka Popow-Wozniak, 44, an infertility clinic employee who had cycled through the city, told Reuters the situation seems to be better than expected.

"There is no flooding in the city centre at the moment ... The recreational beaches are flooded, but I think we all expected it, and I think for now everything looks optimistic."

The army said 16,000 soldiers were helping out in the region, alongside police and thousands of volunteers.

The deluge in Europe has spread mud and debris throughout towns, destroyed bridges, submerged cars and left authorities and households with a bill for damages that will run into billions of dollars.

The Czech finance minister has said damage in the country would run into the billions of euros.

In Hungary, towns were dealing with the rising Danube River and Prime Minister Victor Orban said the water level in Budapest is expected to peak tomorrow afternoon or evening, but that it will be lower than record levels seen in 2013.

"Hungary will do it, we will mount a successful defence against this flood as well," he said in a statement yesterday.

Fake soldier

Mr Tusk also warned against the spread of false information about the floods, as Polish secret services searched for a person dressed in a soldier's uniform who had appeared on the flood embankments and warned the public the defences would be blown up.

"This man is driving a car with false registration numbers, so this is no longer fun, but serious issues," the prime minister said.

He said: "No one has any intention of blowing anything up anywhere.

"Please do not believe it and immediately notify the police and the army.

"We will eliminate this type of behaviour with the help of the Internal Security Agency."