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A city-wide flood warning was issued by Krakow Mayor Jacek Majchrowski at 8:30 am this morning. The water gauge at Bielany shows the Wisla River is 25 cm above emergency levels. The emergency water level has been surpassed in 12 places along rivers in Malopolska, and water has reached warning levels in 14 places as of 1:00 pm.

Consequently, a flood warning has been issued in several other communities of the Malopolska region, including Skawina, Kraj, Pcim, zapanów, Bochnia, and Zabierzów. Today throughout Malopolska 170 firefighters and 440 volunteer rescuers are participating in emergency flood rescue crews, which were called in almost 300 times last night and 100 times as of this morning. So far, only localised property damage has been reported mainly to pools, basements, and some residences.

Last night barges were overturned and swept downstream as the Wisla River swelled from rain. The barges have been stopped by the Stopie? Wodny D?bie bridge, which has been closed to traffic as a result. The overturned barges do not currently pose a threat to safety and cannot be removed due to continually rising water levels on the river. The water level will reach its climax today between 1:00-4:00 pm but will stay well below the level of the embankments, according to experts at the Institute of Meteorology and Water Management. Traffic has also been closed on ul. Podbipi?ty, from the roundabout to ul. Marii Panny.

With today being the first day of school nation-wide, students in the southern and eastern regions of Poland will have to brave a steady downpour of rain going to and from school. Snow and sleet have even been reported as a possibility in the mountains.

(Krakowpost)

Tags: krakow, poland, poland flooding