Four people in eastern Romania have been found dead after torrential storms dumped unprecedented rain, leaving hundreds stranded in flooded areas, emergency authorities said Saturday.
Rescue services scrambled to save people in the hard-hit eastern counties of Galati and Vaslui. The bodies of three older women and one man were found in four localities, the Department for Emergency Situations said.
Emergency authorities released video footage showing teams of rescuers evacuating people using small lifeboats through muddy waters and carrying some older people to safety.
Some of the most significant flood damage was concentrated in Galati where 5,000 households were affected. A Black Hawk helicopter was also deployed there to help with the search and rescue efforts.
The storms battered 19 localities in eight counties in Romania, with strong winds downing dozens of trees that damaged cars and blocked roads and traffic. Authorities sent text message alerts to residents to warn them of adverse weather as emergency services rushed to remove floodwaters from homes.
By 1 p.m. local time on Saturday, more than 250 people had been evacuated with the help of 700 interior ministry personnel deployed to affected communities, authorities said.
Romanian Environment Minister Mircea Fechet told The Associated Press that in some of the badly flooded areas, more than 160 liters (42 gallons) of rain fell per square meter (about 10.7 square feet), which he said is a rare occurrence.
“What we are trying to do right now is save as many lives as possible,” said the minister, who was on his way to Galati to assess the situation.
Romanian President Klaus Iohannis offered his condolences to the victims’ bereaved families, writing on Facebook: “We must continue to strengthen our capacity to anticipate extreme weather phenomena.”
“Severe floods that have affected a large part of the country have led to loss of lives and significant damage,” Iohannis said. “We are again dealing with the effects of climate change, which are increasingly present throughout the European continent, with dramatic consequences on people.”
The stormy weather comes as several central European nations anticipate severe flooding to hit the Czech Republic, Poland, Austria, Germany, Slovakia, and Hungary over the weekend.
In the Czech Republic, river waters reached dangerously high levels in dozens of areas, prompting the authorities to evacuate hundreds of people, including from a hospital in the second-largest city of Brno, to escape raging floods. A 54-year-old man was missing, police said, after he fell in a flooded stream in the southeast of the country, while another three people were swept away in a car by a river in the northeast.