Flooding in Central Europe leaves at least 17 dead

What happened

At least eight people died Monday in flooding throughout Central Europe, bringing the death toll to at least 17 in Romania, Poland, the Czech Republic and Austria since slow-moving Storm Boris hit the region Friday. Swollen rivers have swamped towns, broken through dams and destroyed bridges. In the Polish city of Nysa, the BBC said, the mayor urged all 44,000 residents to head to higher ground.

Who said what

"Please evacuate your belongings, yourselves, your loved ones," Nysa Mayor Kordian Kolbiarz said Monday. If the embankment fails, "the whole town will be flooded." In eastern Romania, the mayor of Slobozia Conachi, Emil Dragomir, said any visitor "would cry instantly, because people are desperate, their whole life's work is gone." The mayor of Budapest said the Hungarian capital is preparing for the worst flooding in a decade.

Boris, which "unleashed several months' worth of rain in just a few days," was spawned by a "rare combination" of unusually cold air from Western Europe mixing with unseasonably warm, humid air from the east, The Washington Post said. "Human-caused climate change probably intensified the ensuing deluge," because warm air holds more moisture.

What next?

Conditions have "stabilized" in some areas, while other parts of Europe are "bracing themselves for more disruption and danger" from the storm, the BBC said. Rain is likely to continue through Tuesday in Austria, the Czech Republic and southeast Germany before moving south to Italy, where heavy downpours are expected in Emilia-Romagna.

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