Not Months, But Years Will Be Needed To Restore Regions Of Lower Austria Inundated In Last Week's Massive Floods
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Two dozen people were killed across eastern and central Europe when Storm Boris brought an almost unprecedented deluge to parts of Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia last weekend. Up to five times the average monthly rainfall for September fell in just four days, leaving picturesque towns across the region inundated and residents picking up the pieces. The death toll adds to the hundreds killed by floods around the world in recent days, inundating communities from Nigeria to Myanmar. Just 31 miles (50km) separate St Pölten from Vienna but the damage that last weekend’s floods wreaked in each location is hard to compare. The Austrian capital escaped widespread destruction thanks to retention basins big enough to dissipate the one-in-1,000-year flood on the River Wien, a tributary of the Danube, limiting damage largely to roads and railways.
But in the surrounding state of Lower Austria, which declared itself a “catastrophe region” as riverbanks burst and basements filled, defences were overwhelmed time and again. Calm brooks swelled into furious rivers that tore through towns, washing away livelihoods and leaving houses perched on treacherous terrain. “Two days ago, when I heard more rain falling again, my heart started to pound,” said Fryn. “And if that’s how I responded, you can imagine how people who’ve lost everything must have felt.” As deadly floods continue to surge through more of Europe – sweeping away homes, displacing communities, and wrecking critical infrastructure – the first people hit by the flooding have begun the arduous cleanup. Johanna Mikl-Leitner, the governor of Lower Austria, said rebuilding destroyed regions would take “not days, weeks or months, but years”.
Scientists estimate that river floods cause €7.6bn (£6.4bn) of damage a year in the EU and UK, and the bill is expected to explode as the planet heats up and the exposed population grows. On Thursday, the leaders of Austria, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia met Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, who announced €10bn in aid for member states hit by “heartbreaking” devastation. Karl Nehammer, the Austrian chancellor, said his government would top up its disaster fund to €1bn.
The deadly flooding has thrust climate and nature into the political spotlight in Austria before federal elections next weekend. So far, environmental protection has played little role in the campaigns of most of the big parties, and the far-right Freedom party (FPÖ), whose manifesto warns of “climate hysteria” and “Green banning nonsense”, has long topped the polls. “How many more wake-up calls are needed?” asked Kurt Seinitz, a columnist at the tabloid newspaper Krone, on Monday. “What else needs to happen to make people aware of the need for urgent action against global warming?” Climate breakdown is one of several factors aggravating floods along Europe’s rivers. A study last year estimated that 83% of the projected economic damage caused by global heating up to 3C above preindustrial levels could be avoided by creating “detention areas” – bathtub-like systems that can temporarily store water during flood peaks. It was the most cost-effective strategy the researchers assessed, ahead of strengthening dykes, flood-proofing individual buildings and relocating communities.
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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/sep/21/austrian-city-st-polten-faces-up-to-scale-of-damage-left-by-deadly-flooding