Polish floods threaten Auschwitz
Source: Agencies |
May 19, 2010, Wednesday
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FLOODING in southern Poland has killed at least five people, and officials closed the Auschwitz-Birkenau memorial site yesterday to protect its Holocaust archives and artifacts.
Heavy rains that began in central Europe last weekend also are causing flooding in areas of Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, with rivers bursting their banks and inundating low-lying homes and roads, and cutting off villages.
Thousands of people have been evacuated, and electricity has been knocked out in some areas. Rail travel also was paralyzed, rendering some areas unreachable.
Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai of Hungary declared a state of emergency in the northeastern Borsod-Abauj-Zemplen county, allowing those suffering financial losses to claim compensation.
In Poland, nearly 2,000 people were evacuated from their homes and the flooding claimed two more victims yesterday, including one of the thousands of firefighters involved in the rescue efforts. Three people were reported dead on Monday.
In Krakow, a major bridge was closed as the Vistula River nearly reached it.
At Auschwitz-Birkenau, the former Nazi death camp that draws about a million visitors a year, authorities carried historical documents and some artifacts, including brushes and bowls that belonged to victims, to the upper floors of old barracks used to house exhibits, said spokesman Jaroslaw Mensfelt.
Mensfelt said the memorial site was closed to visitors, the first time that has happened due to the threat of floods. Waters were rising in two nearby rivers, the Vistula and the Sola.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk traveled to the area and met with angry residents of the flooded village of Proszowki, near Krakow, who complained of receiving little help.
In Hungary, some 1,500 people were contributing to flood defense in the northeast, using 500,000 sandbags to reinforce dikes and working to contain the flooded rivers, including the Sajo, Bodva, Hernad and Berettyo.
The situation also was serious in the Czech Republic, where the rising waters of the Becva River flooded the town of Troubky, which was partially evacuated.
Heavy rains that began in central Europe last weekend also are causing flooding in areas of Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, with rivers bursting their banks and inundating low-lying homes and roads, and cutting off villages.
Thousands of people have been evacuated, and electricity has been knocked out in some areas. Rail travel also was paralyzed, rendering some areas unreachable.
Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai of Hungary declared a state of emergency in the northeastern Borsod-Abauj-Zemplen county, allowing those suffering financial losses to claim compensation.
In Poland, nearly 2,000 people were evacuated from their homes and the flooding claimed two more victims yesterday, including one of the thousands of firefighters involved in the rescue efforts. Three people were reported dead on Monday.
In Krakow, a major bridge was closed as the Vistula River nearly reached it.
At Auschwitz-Birkenau, the former Nazi death camp that draws about a million visitors a year, authorities carried historical documents and some artifacts, including brushes and bowls that belonged to victims, to the upper floors of old barracks used to house exhibits, said spokesman Jaroslaw Mensfelt.
Mensfelt said the memorial site was closed to visitors, the first time that has happened due to the threat of floods. Waters were rising in two nearby rivers, the Vistula and the Sola.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk traveled to the area and met with angry residents of the flooded village of Proszowki, near Krakow, who complained of receiving little help.
In Hungary, some 1,500 people were contributing to flood defense in the northeast, using 500,000 sandbags to reinforce dikes and working to contain the flooded rivers, including the Sajo, Bodva, Hernad and Berettyo.
The situation also was serious in the Czech Republic, where the rising waters of the Becva River flooded the town of Troubky, which was partially evacuated.
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