Central Europe is grappling with the aftermath of its most severe flooding in at least two decades. Storm Boris, a powerful storm that brought heavy rain and snow over the weekend, left a trail of devastation from Romania to Poland. The death toll has tragically reached at least 21, with many more missing, across Poland, Hungary, Romania, and Austria. Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated from flood-affected areas across Central Europe, including 15,000 on Czechia’s border with Poland.
The situation in Poland is particularly dire, with the southern regions bearing the brunt of the damage. The country’s defense ministry has deployed 14,000 soldiers to assist in flood-hit regions. In the city of Wroclaw, residents have been reinforcing river banks as they brace for peak water levels expected on Thursday. Meanwhile, Hungary, Croatia, and Slovakia are on high alert, as heavy rainfall is predicted to further increase water levels in the Danube River.
The disaster has sparked calls to address climate change, with Polish Deputy Climate Minister Urszula Sara Zielińska attributing the flooding to a changing climate. She pointed out that after extreme flooding in 1997, it was believed that such events would occur only “once every thousand years.” However, these devastating floods have returned just 26 years later. “There is a clear cause to that and it’s called climate change,” she stated.
While a definitive scientific analysis of climate change’s role in this specific event is yet to be conducted, climate scientists have consistently warned that extreme rainfall events will become more frequent in Europe as the planet warms. For every 1°C increase in global temperature, the atmosphere’s capacity to hold water vapor increases by 7%. This, coupled with record-breaking sea surface temperatures last month, likely played a significant role in the storm. Higher sea temperatures lead to increased evaporation and greater moisture in the air, creating ideal conditions for heavy rainfall when this warm, wet air meets cold Arctic air.
The EU has issued a stark warning, calling the devastating flooding in Central Europe a manifestation of “climate breakdown” that will become the norm without immediate action. Janez Lenarcic, the EU’s Crisis Management Commissioner, told lawmakers in Strasbourg that Europe cannot “return to a safer past.” He emphasized, “Make no mistake. This tragedy is not an anomaly. This is fast becoming the norm for our shared future.” Lenarcic also highlighted the escalating cost of inaction, pointing out that the damage caused by similar events in 2021 and 2022 exceeded an average of €50 billion per year.
Nicolò Wojewoda, European regional director at international environmental organization 350.org, echoed the urgency, calling this a “devastating wake-up call” for world leaders. He stated, “We are witnessing ordinary people paying with their lives, right now, as decision-makers delay and obstruct climate action. How many more deadly disasters do they need to see in order to take necessary concrete steps to set policy and implement measures that end the suffering we are witnessing today?”
As world leaders gather for a series of summits and conferences in the coming weeks, these preventable disasters will serve as a stark reminder that concrete action, not empty words, is needed to address the climate crisis. The tragic consequences unfolding in Central Europe underscore the pressing need for global leaders to prioritize climate action and prevent future tragedies.
