Last night’s torrential rain and thunderstorms caused floods in the south of Poland.

The Lower Silesia, Malopolska, Podkarpacie and Podlasie provinces were most affected by the floods. Farms, businesses, roads and bridges were damaged and a lot of houses left without electricity.

In the Lower Silesia province flood alert was announced after the Czarna Woda river burst its banks and flooded eleven localities. The level of water in some houses reached 1,5 metres but no one was evacuated. In the whole area firemen received 410 emergency calls.

The Malopolska province has seen rivers exceed emergency levels. In the town of Myslenice, 60 buildings were flooded, including a kindergarten, hospital, library and petrol stations.

Over 1,500 households were stripped of electricity after violent thunderstorms with added hail and strong wind (90 km/h) in the Podlasie province. Firemen were called more than 200 times to remove trees struck down by gale and pump out water from flooded cellars.

According to weather forecasts, heavy rain and thunderstorms are expected again tonight in the Silesia and Opole provinces. (mg/pg)