The floods caused by Cyclone Boris in the south of Poland and in the east and north of the Czech Republic last night took the first life in Poland, and in the Czech Republic, four missing people are being searched for. Thousands of citizens in both countries have been evacuated from their homes, and the most dramatic situation is in the Klodska basin, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said this morning, who is visiting the affected areas.

In Silesia and the Lesser Poland Voivodeship in the southwest and south of Poland, in the area of ​​the border with the Czech Republic, mountain streams and rivers have turned into torrents due to heavy rainfall, and in some places the water is already above the embankments, while the artificial lakes in the hydroelectric plants are also full. .

In the town of Gluholazi on the border with the Czech Republic, where the floods started and where the water broke through the protective embankments, the mayor Pavel Šimkovic this morning with a dramatic message - "we are sinking", appealed to everyone to evacuate to higher ground.

Yesterday, with the help of the army and the territorial defense, the Polish firefighters were strengthening the embankments, removing fallen trees and branches that make it difficult for the railway traffic, which is interrupted on 40 tracks.

Due to the strong wind and floods, a large number of citizens were left without electricity, and in some places the mobile phone signal is also unavailable.

"We have made a decision to start using satellite communication through Starlink, but we should not expect that everywhere will be connected immediately," Tusk said.

In the neighboring Czech Republic, the search for four missing people began yesterday, a man in the south of Moravia who was swept away by the rising waters from in front of his house, and three people disappeared after their car fell into the river. 260.000 people are without power due to stormy winds and flooding in the Czech Republic, mainly in the Moravian-Silesian region in the east of the country.

The Moravian-Silesian region and Olomouc declared a state of emergency on Saturday, and in some places the levees and torrents of the mostly smaller rivers or the upper reaches of the larger ones, the Odra and the Elbe, overflowed the dams of the smaller hydroelectric plants. , although the past days have been rapidly releasing water from their artificial reservoirs.

So far, about 80 percent of the expected rainfall brought by Cyclone Boris has fallen in the Czech Republic, and it is estimated that the flooding will remain only local. The city of Jesenjik and the surrounding municipalities on the border with Poland are completely "cut off from the world" due to torrential rains.

In both Poland and the Czech Republic, authorities expect fewer casualties and less material damage, as a lot of money has been invested in infrastructure and flood protection measures in recent years.