Nysa Poland: Entire Polish city evacuated as Storm Boris deadly floods batter Europe killing at least 16 people

The mayor of Nysa, Kordian Kolbiarz, issued the evacuation order yesterday (Monday 16 September), urging all 44,000 residents to seek higher ground due to the risk of a nearby embankment breaching. The embankment holds back water from a large lake, and its failure could release a surge of water several metres high into the town.

Mr Kolbiarz wrote: “Please evacuate your belongings, yourselves, your loved ones. It is worth getting to the top floor of the building immediately, because the wave may be several metres high. This means that the whole town will be flooded”.

Storm Boris has unleashed a month’s worth of rain in just 24 hours, causing severe flooding in Poland, Austria, Romania, and the Czech Republic. The death toll from the floods rose to at least 16 on Monday, with four fatalities confirmed in Poland alone.

People have also died in Romania, Austria, and the Czech Republic, where a firefighter was killed during a rescue operation. In addition to the evacuations in Nysa, local authorities have ordered the evacuation of several nearby villages, including Kozielno, after the Topola reservoir in southern Poland overflowed.

Prime minister Donald Tusk declared a 30-day state of natural disaster on Monday, which will allow authorities to streamline the response efforts and provide aid to flood-stricken areas in the Lower Silesian, Opole, and Silesian voivodeships. He also confirmed that Poland would apply for EU relief funds to support recovery in the affected regions.

Wroclaw, a city of 600,000 people located in southwestern Poland, is also on high alert, with teams working to reinforce flood defences and protect critical infrastructure. Other parts of Europe are also flooded. In Romania, villages and towns were submerged over the weekend, forcing thousands of residents to flee.

In Hungary, authorities are bracing for potential flooding along the Danube River, which runs through the capital, Budapest. The storm has also affected Austria, where two elderly residents died in the northeastern region of the country over the weekend.