"We will do everything to help in the cleanup effort ... we will try to provide help as soon as possible," Mateusz Morawiecki said after a crisis management meeting in Głogoczów, a village in the country’s southern Małopolskie province that has suffered the worst of the damage.
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki talks to reporters during a visit to Głogoczów, southern Poland, on Sunday. Photo: PAP/Łukasz Gągulski
Dozens of residential buildings were flooded in Głogoczów and several other villages in the area after local rivers and streams broke their banks amid heavy rains during the weekend, Poland’s PAP news agency reported.
Eighteen people had to be evacuated by firefighters, according to public broadcaster Polish Radio’s IAR news agency.
In recent weeks, the Government Centre for Security (RCB) has sent out thousands of text messages alerting people in various parts of the country over intense rainfall and possible storms causing a risk of local flooding and power outages.
This past weekend alone, firefighters were called out more than 2,500 times to deal with the aftermath of thunderstorms and intense rainfall in various regions across Poland, including the central Mazowieckie province, which includes the national capital Warsaw, according to a spokesman for the State Fire Service, Krzysztof Batorski.
Meanwhile, forecasters have warned of further storms and rain in large parts of the country this week, posing a flood risk to people and property.
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Source: PAP, IAR