Jelenia Gora, Poland - September 18, 2024

More than five times the average rainfall for the whole of September has fallen in five days on swathes of Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia, triggering devastating flooding that has killed 22 people in four countries.

Visiting Wrocław, a city of 600,000 people where the level of the Odra (Oder) River is not due to peak until Thursday, the Polish prime minister, Donald Tusk, told a crisis meeting that “a lot happened” overnight but more needed to be done.

Sandbags were passed along lines of residents and civil protection workers to fortify riverbanks and buildings, helped by some of the 14,000 soldiers sent to the worst-hit areas. Army helicopters dumped more bags to strengthen emergency dams.