Storm Boris wreaks havoc across eastern and central Europe

In Romania, four bodies were discovered in the worst affected region, Galati in the southeast, where 5,000 homes were damaged.  

Hundreds of people have been rescued across 19 parts of the country, rescue services said, releasing a video of flooded homes in a village by the Danube river. 

“This is a catastrophe of epic proportions,” said Emil Dragomir, mayor of Slobozia Conachi village in Galati, where he said 700 homes had been flooded. 

Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu was expected to visit the area later, while President Iohannis sent his “condolences to grieving families”. 

Around 100,000 firefighters have been mobilised in the Czech Republic, where nearly 2,900 incidents were recorded on Friday, most of them due to fallen trees and floods. 

Almost 50,000 homes were without electricity on Saturday, Czech power company CEZ said, and a hospital in the southeastern city of Brno was evacuated on Saturday morning. 

“The ground is now saturated so all the rainwater is going to stay on the surface,” Environment Minister Petr Hladik said on X, formerly Twitter. 

Residents are being offered free bags of sand to shore up their homes.