I just spent three days at my home in Kłodzko Land, southwest Poland, one of the regions hardest hit by the current floods. We faced power outages and damage from falling trees. While my home was spared by the water, many of my neighbours weren’t so lucky. This disaster reminds many of us of the devastating ‘millennial’ flood in 1997. As residents of Silesia, we thought we were better prepared and had learned from past mistakes.
In many regions of Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary, Austria and Romania the water is once again showing its destructive power. Some people have died; thousands more have had to flee their homes and houses, hospitals, bridges and roads have been destroyed. And it’s not over yet. In some regions, the height of the flood is yet to come.
This flooding is showing us that more needs to be done to protect our communities from the growing threats of extreme weather.
Despite all this, I am hopeful. Local communities are showing great solidarity. I experienced that firsthand during the last days. We are kind to each other, support each other when there is a power outage, when a tree collapses, when the roof is damaged, when we run out of supplies, when we must place sandbags.
Local authorities, emergency services, and the government responded quickly, providing crucial support, defending towns, and evacuating those in danger. Their swift actions helped protect our communities during the floods.
But this crisis teaches us a lesson: We must fight even harder to protect nature and climate. We need to stop the massive cutting down of mountain forests and give rivers more space to flow freely beyond cities and villages. We must fight the climate crisis even harder so that ‘millennium floods’ do not occur every few decades.
We stand in solidarity with each other.
And when the water is gone, the mud has been cleaned up, and people have returned to their homes, that is when the real work begins. To take action to stop global heating, and prevent the worst effects of future extreme weather events. Because this crisis that is bigger than this flood, and our response should match the magnitude.
