Europe floods latest: Seven confirmed dead as Storm Boris rages across Poland, Romania and Czech Republic

Sarah Rainsford
BBC Eastern Europe Correspondent, reporting from Poland

We are heading southwest from Warsaw, approaching the area of Poland that’s underwater.

All the way down, the sun has been out and the roads are dry. But reports from closer to the Czech border are increasingly worrying.

The mayor of Klodzko has announced that his town has now “lost the battle” against the floods. Hundreds of people have been evacuated. The situation is described as “critical”.

Kamila Solowska, who’s from Glucholazy, another critical location further south, has told the BBC her family live near the river, and the town’s main bridge has been destroyed.

She sent the video her family filmed of a caravan floating down the road. Another shows chocolate brown water gushing past their home, almost at the level of the wooden garden fence.

Kamila is not there herself but was in touch with relatives until their phone batteries died. There is no electricity.

“All the streets around are flooded. It’s not even possible to leave the house now. The water is too high. They are waiting and hoping for evacuation by boat or helicopter,” she told us.

On higher ground in the town, people are ok – for now.

Another woman, whose parents are from Jarnoltowek village, tells us they’ve been evacuated – along with the whole village, some 800 residents.

The floods have already spread as far as Nysa, further north and further from the mountains. One family, who live near a reservoir, have sent us pictures of water pouring into their basement. It’s not raining right now, but more is forecast.

Everyone in this region remembers the terrible floods of 1997 and worry about what more is to come.