Source:
ReutersBy Rob Strybel -
August 8, 2010 -
WARSAW (Reuters) – Rescue workers sought to clear flood-borne debris including damaged cars and evacuate victims after heavy rains and stormy winds across central Europe killed at least 15 people over the weekend.
Heavy downpours on Saturday caused rivers to overflow their banks and a dam to burst, submerging Bogatynia and other towns in the southwest corner of Poland and killing at least three people, Polish officials said on Sunday.
One woman drowned in Bogatynia on Saturday. The body of another woman and a 55-year-old rescuer swept away by a dam burst on Saturday were found on Sunday, Fire Brigade spokesman Pawel Fratczak told Reuters by telephone.
Flood damage and deaths also were reported in neighbouring countries. The death toll in the Czech Republic grew to five on Sunday and another three were missing and feared drowned, the Polish PAP news agency said.
Read more:
http://www.news90.com/world/flash-floods-inundate-central-europe-15-dead/7929
Earlier story:
Ten dead, thousands evacuated in central Europe floods Floods caused by torrential rain left 10 people dead and several others missing in central Europe Sunday, with residents rescued from rising waters in boats, buses and helicopters.
While rivers burst their banks and dykes were breached in Poland, Germany and the Czech Republic, in western Europe about 500 firefighters tackled wildfires in Portugal.
Three people drowned in southwestern Poland, near the country's borders with Germany and the Czech Republic, Polish Interior Minister Jerzy Miller told reporters Sunday.
A woman drowned in the town of Bogatynia, which was heavily damaged by a river that burst its banks on Saturday, forcing 700 people to leave their homes, Polish firefighters' spokesman Pawel Fratczak told AFP. Another woman drowned in the same region, where a 55-year-old fireman was also swept away when a dyke burst, he added.
More details of the devastation across Europe:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gKNPodd6YyMED2TbzQCIq0ZDL0Vw