“We have a second crack along the shore. It was small before, but now it is big,” Dariusz Pryga reported to the RMF station early Tuesday morning, saying that Mi-17 military helicopters continue to drop sandbags to strengthen the barriers. Before this announcement, however, the Polish media reported an improvement in the situation overnight.
In the city, which has more than 44,000 inhabitants and is located in the Opole Voivodeship near the Czech Mikulovice, according to the chief of the Polish fire department, the situation is currently the worst in the whole country. Mayor Kordian Kolbiarz ordered a partial evacuation already on Monday. “Bags with sand and paving stones are strengthening the embankment at the Kościuszko Bridge. He has to keep it so that the water does not flood the streets,” TVN 24 described the efforts of the residents.
View from the helicopter of the Polish firefighters on the flooded area near the city of Nisa in the Opole Voivodeship.
Nysa City Council thanks the residents for their help. Now to akcji wkraczają śmigłowce.
– We are asking you to withdraw to a safe area beyond the bridge. Akcja z uśłajem śmigłowców będzie prowadzona kilka godzin – mózi kpt Dariusz Pryga, oficer prasowy Komendy Poviatowej Państwowej Straży… pic.twitter.com/ox5WBKwDQr
— 🌐 ᴛʜᴇᴘᴏʟᴀɴᴅɴᴇᴡs 🌐 (@thepolandnews_) September 16, 2024
Authorities warned of a worsening situation and began a partial evacuation in Nis earlier on Monday when a culvert collapsed between two reservoirs above the town of Paczków. Nisa lies a few kilometers downstream, between Paczków and it there are two other water reservoirs on the river Kladská Nisa. The city is already partly under water as a result of the downpours and floods that have plagued Central and Eastern Europe, including the Czech Republic, in recent days.
The water washed away the entire area around the river Nisa.
Elsewhere in the south of Poland, near the village of Wawrzeńczyce, about 35 kilometers southwest of Wrocław, a dam on the Strzegomka River broke and the local bridge was also swept away by the flood, Gazeta Wyborcza reported on its website. Strzegomka is a tributary of the Bystrzyca River, which flows into the Odra in Wroclaw. The Odra is to culminate on Tuesday in the city of Opole and on Wednesday in Wrocław, where the army will be involved in strengthening the dikes on Tuesday.
According to the Onet server, the water managers responded to the threat to the city and decided to reduce the discharge of water from the reservoir in Nis to help repair the dam and the evacuation.
Flooded streets in Nisa on Monday
