Rivers swollen by melting snow and heavy rain flooded a key highway link to Poland's capital on Thursday and prompted emergency officials to draw up plans to avert further trouble.
WARSAW, Poland — Rivers swollen by melting snow and heavy rain flooded a key highway link to Poland's capital on Thursday and prompted emergency officials to draw up plans to avert further trouble.
Tributaries of the Odra River overflowed their banks near the southwestern city of Wroclaw, TVN24 reported. Firefighters built up sandbag barriers as water ran into roads and fields.
Farther north, sections of the main highway linking Warsaw with the northern port city of Gdansk were flooded, the news agency PAP reported. Firefighters were working to divert the water from the highway.
About 100 children were evacuated from a flooded school in the village of Bielkowek. No injuries were reported.
In many parts of the country, cars were stranded in flooded streets and emergency officials used heavy equipment to build sand barriers along streams.
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Prime Minister Marek Belka met with the government emergency agency to ensure that authorities are prepared in case of major flooding.
Memories are still fresh in Poland of large-scale floods in recent years -- most dramatically in 1997, when about 55 people were killed.
Weather forecasters said they expect little precipitation in the next few days and predicted the flooding would not get worse.
Source: Associated Press
