Flooding fears refuse to subside in Central Europe

It may no longer be raining across Central Europe but flooding is still a huge problem. CGTN’s Johannes Pleschberger reports from Austria

Transcript

00:00The rain has gone, but the danger remains imminent.

00:05Whether the dam in the town of Weinburg will hold is still unclear.

00:09Austria's military is trying to free the river from floating debris.

00:13The danger today is that this dam might break and then there would be a surge in the lower reaches of the river,

00:19which could once again lead to the flooding of a village and then endanger the population.

00:24Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria and Romania have been battered by heavy rain,

00:28causing some of the worst flooding in recent history.

00:32The lower Austria region has been particularly affected,

00:35with 21 dam breaches and over a thousand properties evacuated.

00:40The flood hit my garage and then moved from the garage into the cellar until that was filled up to the ceiling.

00:46I can't put a figure on the damage yet. The heating system is broken.

00:52Now that the cleanup work is underway, many are wondering whether the extent of this disaster could have been prevented.

00:57Climate-related events such as the warmest Mediterranean sea temperature on record

01:02have led to increased humidity and heavy rainfalls, but there are other factors.

01:07No other European country is urbanizing as rapidly as Austria,

01:11with large areas being covered over with concrete and that's stopping rainwater draining into the ground.

01:18For now, hundreds of households are still without electricity and drinking water.

01:23Authorities say the extent of the damage cannot yet be estimated.