FILE PHOTO: People stand near sandbags protecting the Wroclaw Zoo against flooding, in Wroclaw, Poland, September 18, 2024. Agencja Wyborcza.pl/Tomasz Pietrzyk via REUTERS/File Photo
WROCLAW, Poland (Reuters) - The European Union will make billions of euros available to help central Europe recover from severe floods, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Thursday, as she pledged support for regions that have been devastated by the deluge.
The worst floods to hit central Europe in at least two decades have caused widespread damage from Romania to Poland, killing at least 24 people, destroying bridges, submerging cars and leaving towns caked in mud and debris.
The flooding was caused by torrential rain that began last week and lasted for several days, causing rivers to burst their banks in several parts of the region.
"I am here to reassure you that Europe stands by your side," she told a news conference in the Polish city of Wroclaw, standing alongside leaders of the affected countries.
"This is a moment of need, of... natural disaster and we have all to stand together to overcome the challenge."
Von der Leyen said that 10 billion euros ($11.16 billion) would be made available from EU cohesion funds and that some of the conditions usually attached to such funds, such as co-financing by member states, would be lifted to make the response quicker.
She also said that money from the EU's Solidarity Fund, which supports member states hit by natural disasters, would be used to rebuild infrastructure.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk told private broadcaster Polsat News that Poland could get 5 billion euros.
"What we need now is to quickly build, repair infrastructure, it will cost huge amounts of money, it would be tough to handle it from national budgets," said Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala, adding he was grateful for von der Leyen's concrete proposals for help.
Czech Finance Minister Zbynek Stanjura said earlier on Thursday that the government would provide 30 billion crowns ($1.3 billion), about 0.38% of GDP, in a 2024 budget amendment and earmark 10 billion crowns more in the 2025 budget to help with flood damage.
Czech Interior Minister Vit Rakusan said most power supply should be reconnected by Friday.
The country is holding regional elections this weekend and authorities said a satellite connection had been set up in places where mobile signal is lacking, to allow the vote to go ahead.
DEFENCES
Meanwhile, flood defences in Poland's third-largest city, Wroclaw, looked to have held firm on Thursday.
The flood wave that has inundated the Polish-Czech border region since the weekend reached Wroclaw overnight, but there were no signs of serious damage.
"The urban system withstood and absorbed the main wave of the floods that have been hitting Lower Silesia and neighbouring regions for a week," local authorities said in a statement on Facebook.
However, authorities warned that larger than usual levels of water would keep flowing through the city in the coming days.
Agnieszka Popow-Wozniak, 44, an employee at an infertility clinic who had cycled through the city, told Reuters the situation seemed to be better than expected, adding:
"There is no flooding in the city centre at the moment."
The army said 16,000 soldiers were helping out in the region, alongside police and thousands of volunteers.
Prime Minister Tusk said officers from Poland's Internal Security Agency (ABW) had arrested a person who had dressed up in a soldier's uniform and falsely told members of the public that flood defences were going to be blown up.
Poland has warned citizens to be alert for disinformation about the floods.
In Hungary, towns were dealing with the rising Danube River, and Prime Minister Viktor Orban said the water level in Budapest was expected to peak on Saturday afternoon or evening, but that it would be lower than record levels seen in 2013.
($1 = 22.5260 Czech crowns)
($1 = 0.8964 euros)
(Reporting by Barbara Erling in Wroclaw, Pawel Florkiewicz, Alan Charlish, Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk and Anna Koperin Warsaw, Kristina Than in Budapest, Jason Hovet in Prague, Sudip Kar-Gupta in Brussels; Editing by William Maclean and Frances Kerry)
