Eastern Europe battered by storms

While southern Europe struggles with wild fires, Eastern Europe is sheltering from the deluge. In Poland at least 7 people died and nearly 100 have been seriously injured during violent storms – most as a result of falling branches and trees up-rooted by the wind. Winds reached speeds of a 100 kms per hour and hundreds of roofs blown off. There were electricity cuts in Warsaw and Lodz. Cellars were flooded and even Poznan railway station was flooded.

The same storms also swept across Austria and in the Czech Republic, violent winds resulted in the death of a 75 year old woman in a park. 23 others were injured, electric lines were down and railway lines were blocked. Two boats were sunk, one in a lake in the north of the country and one capsized with four people aboard in a river south of the capital. The storms follow a heatwave during which temperatures peaked at a record-breaking 34 degrees centigrade in Prague. Forecasters warn that more of the same is on the way.

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tags: Austria, Czech Republic, Natural disasters