Related articles

In related news, Liberec officials called for help from the military to aid fire fighters and rescue teams as the situation grew out of control. The military has so far sent five helicopters, together with specialists and machinery – including two amphibious vehicles - to complement some 700 professional and voluntary fire fighters operating in the Liberec and Ústí areas. An additional 450 soldiers are on stand-by; Defence Minister Alexandr Vondra and the chief of the General Staff, General Vlastimil Picek, have flown to the region to survey developments. In the region of Plzeň in the west of the country meanwhile, locals are on alert; sandbag barricades have been laid at key spots and other precautions are being taken. As heavy rains continue across the country into Sunday, further areas could be hit.

Continuing heavy rainfall, as feared, has seen rivers in parts of the country break their banks, leading to flash floods that have driven hundreds of people from their homes. Areas suffering from floods are namely the north and north-east of the country. The region of Liberec has been hard hit: around a thousand people had to be evacuated from their homes on Saturday, with some scrambling onto rooftops as they waited for help. Power lines, parts of train routes and roads have all been affected. The nearby Fýdlant was practically cut-off by floodwaters, which also flowed right through the centre of the town, leaving property damaged and cars overturned. Two casualties in the region have since been confirmed, with one person still missing. The calamity has led two regions – Liberec and Ústí nad Labem – to declare states of emergency.

The giant power utility ČEZ on Saturday declared a state of calamity in three areas: Liberec, Ústí nad Labem, and nearby Děčín. More than 2,000 sites are now without electricity. Company crews are working to try and restore power but are facing complications from the rain, floodwaters and fallen trees across power lines. A company spokeswoman said there had been some success citing three villages – Srní, Provodín and Lázně Libverda – where electricity had been restored.

Increased rainfall over the last several days has risen water levels on a number of rivers, making canoeing or rafting ideal in areas, but also reason for caution in others. The head of the Czech Canoe Association Vojtěch Jančar has told CTK that canoeists were recommended to proceed with care at sluices, such as one near the south Bohemian town of Bechyně on the Lužnice, where water is flowing at 60 cubic metres per second. He also pointed to a section of whitewater near Tábor requiring more experience and skill. The Sázava river has also seen an increase in water levels.

The Czech charity People in Need launched on Monday a fundraising campaign to help the victims of floods in Pakistan. The NGO is sending two coordinators to the affected area, and is planning to use the collected funds to provide basic food and water supplies to survivors. The charity released 500,000 crowns, or more than 26,000 US dollars, for immediate assistance. The International Committee of the Red Cross said on Monday the floods affected around 2.5 million Pakistanis; some 1,100 people were killed while another 27,000 are still cut off by the floods.

Officials have completed calculations of damages caused by early summer floods in South Moravia. Regional governor Michal Hašek told reporters on Thursday that the total damage amounted to 316 million crowns (roughly 16 million US dollars). State and business properties were the worst affected; damage to state property such as roads and sewage canals amounted to 160 million crowns. The flooding took one life, that of a middle aged man who slipped into a river.

Storms, torrential rain and strong winds that hit the Czech Republic over the weekend have swollen rivers and caused local flooding across the country. Some two thousand households in western Bohemia remain without electricity supplies after falling trees broke transmission lines. In southern Moravia, fire brigades pumped rainwater from some 50 houses. Heavy rain has swollen rivers in several places around the country, with flood alerts declared in several parts of southern Moravia, eastern Bohemia and other regions. Temperatures dropped by around 10 degrees Celsius over the weekend.

A night storm interrupted the music festival Colours of Ostrava on Saturday night when organizers turned off electricity for an hour for safety reasons. The performance by the headliners, the Irish band The Cranberries, was delayed by an hour, while the show of UK’s Brendan Perry was cancelled.

Friday’s heavy storm in the eastern part of the country has once again raised water levels in Moravia’s streams and rivers. Although there is no immediate danger, many towns and villages have been put on flood alert in view of more rain forecast in the coming days. Masaryk forest, north of Brno, is off limits to the public after last week’s heavy storm uprooted dozens of trees.

A 39-year old woman was killed by a falling tree near the town of Blansko in southern Moravia, where heavy thunderstorms hit on Saturday. Falling trees damaged roads, railroad tracks, cars and houses. Firefighters in the southern Moravia region were called out on some 80 missions in the course of Saturday night. Some roads and railroad routes are still blocked due to damages. In other parts of Moravia, the storms lead to power outages and flooded cellars and garages. Some 15,000 households near the Moravian town of Třebič were still without electricity on Sunday morning.

A British punk rock band which recently performed in the Czech Republic left the country with more than the usual souvenirs, the town of Nový Jičín takes some unorthodox anti-flood measures and, it turns out that the Czech poppy-seed pies are not so harmless after all. Find out more in Magazine with Daniela Lazarová.