Since September 12, Storm Boris has brought torrential rain and strong winds to several countries in eastern and central Europe, resulting in widespread flooding and the evacuation of thousands of residents in parts of Austria, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic. The heaviest rains have been concentrated in the Czech Republic, Austria, southern Poland, far western Slovakia, far western Hungary as well as areas near the southeastern German border. Rainfall amounts during the past week ranged from 200 – 350 mm (8 – 14 inches) in these areas. The extreme rainfall resulted in major, and in some areas even record-setting river flooding in these countries, including along the Danube River, one of the region’s major waterways.
While clean-up efforts and damage assessments have yet to get underway in many areas of central and eastern Europe, widespread disruptions have already been confirmed to transportation and business activities in some of the region’s worst affected areas. So far, impacts have been reported to road, shipping and rail transport networks as well as production disruptions in industries such as food and beverage making, automotive, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and the general machinery sectors. With the flood situation yet to peak in some areas, more transport and business disruptions should be expected in countries like the Czech Republic, Austria, Poland, and Slovakia in the coming weeks.
Heavy rain and flooding hit eastern parts of the Czech Republic
Parts of the Czech Republic have been among the worst affected areas since heavy rain and strong winds reached eastern and central Europe last week. In Ostrava, the country’s third largest city and the capital of the north-eastern Moravian-Silesian Region, an entire industrial area was flooded and hundreds of residents had to be evacuated. The full extent of the damages is yet to be assessed, but the chemical companies BorsodChem MCHZ, Ltd. and OKK Koksovny, a.s. were among the local companies forced to close production plants in town due to the floods. Neither provided information on when operations may resume. Widespread disruptions have also been reported in Opava, a city of 56,000 residents in the same region, where around 10,000 of its residents were asked to move to higher ground as of September 16 over concerns of the rising water levels along the Opava River. Local business disruptions have been confirmed by several companies in the area, including some that operate in the pharmaceutical and food making sectors. Furthermore, a growing number of production halts have been reported in cities such as Bohumin, Litovel, and Krnov, all of which are located in the Moravian-Silesian Region as well.
Operational impacts have also been confirmed along the region’s road and rail networks. ČD Cargo, a.s., the state-owned cargo rail operator, has announced that rail services across the country are facing delays and disruptions, but particularly in Ostrava, Opava, and Jesenická. According to the operator, international rail services between the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia are impacted as well. At the time of writing, initial assessments indicate that it could take up to a week for rail services to return to normal. Authorities have also been forced to close major roads in the Moravian-Silesian Region in recent days, including sections of the D-56 Motorway and the D1 Motorway, the country’s oldest and longest highway. The movement of goods into and out of the Czech Republic has been further complicated by the recent collapse of a bridge in the German city of Dresden. The incident blocked parts of the shipping route between Germany and the Czech Republic along the River Elbe, effectively cutting off Czech river ports along this route and stranding some vessels until further notice. Local operators such as Sächsische Binnenschifffahrt Oberelbe (SBO) were planning to transfer goods from river to road and rail transport following the bridge’s collapse on September 11, but with rail and road transport restricted in parts of the Czech Republic, capacity will likely be limited in the short-term. Shipments of salt, cereals, wood, coal and ores between the Czech Republic and Germany are among the types of cargo affected by the waterway disruptions, although no shortages are expected at the time of writing.
Floods impact business and transport activities in Poland and Austria
In neighboring Poland, where areas near the border with the Czech Republic were hit particularly hard over the weekend, the government has since announced a state of natural disaster in the affected areas. In Nysa, a town of 40,000 residents located near the country’s southern border, authorities instructed residents to evacuate immediately on September 16 after damages were discovered at a nearby flood bank. Authorities had already halted rail and road traffic between Nysa and Prudnik until further notice as weather conditions continued to deteriorate. Henniges Automotive Prudnik sp. z o.o. and Spółdzielni Pionier, two automotive suppliers located in Prudnik, confirmed production stoppages after flood waters entered local production sites. Business activities in an industrial area in Chorula, a village east of Nysa, were said to be disrupted by heavy rain and flooding as of September 17. Other production stoppages in the wider Opole Voivodeship are likely as well, but have yet to be confirmed by local manufacturers.
Rail and road transportation in southern Poland has also been restricted due to heavy rain and flooding in recent days. Authorities were forced to close the Gołkowice- Závada border crossing between Poland and the Czech Republic after a local river broke its banks on September 14, with no information on when the crossing might be allowed to reopen. Three bridges in Boboluszki, Branice and Dzierżkowice located on the Polish-Czech border were also closed on both sides around the same time as water levels on the Opava River continued to rise. Furthermore, PKP Cargo, the largest railway freight carrier in Poland, confirmed on September 16 that rail movement in and out of Kamieniec Ząbkowicki has been impacted. According to the operator, rail lines are closed in the directions of Kędzierzyn Koźle, Kłodzko Główne and Jaworzyna until further notice, while the connection to Wrocław is also likely to close if weather conditions do not improve.
In Austria, a state of disaster has been declared across the entire province of Lower Austria, the region that surrounds the country’s capital Vienna. As of September 16, the town of Neulengbach and the municipality of Lilienfeld are reported to be among the worst hit areas, with the latter reportedly cut off completely. Both areas are home to automotive suppliers, but the status of these companies remains unclear at the time of writing. Local officials have also warned that the risk of further flooding is particularly high in the areas along the Kamp River, a tributary of the Danube River, the country’s biggest river, although no major flooding had been reported as of 08:00 local time on September 17. Meanwhile, the Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) announced restrictions on dozens of rail lines across Lower Austria, with a travel warning now in place until at least September 19. METRANS, a.s., a global logistics operator, has also confirmed disruptions to its rail services via Linz and Krems an der Donau with no information on when transport activities will normalize. Similarly, rising water levels have resulted in the stoppage of shipping traffic along the Danube River, with at least 70 cargo ships affected by the closure so far. Shipping restrictions were initially expected to remain in place until September 17, but have now been extended until further notice.
At the time of writing, impacts have been more limited in Romania, with most of the flooding-related damages and disruptions concentrated in the eastern regions of Galati, Vaslui and Iasi, where thousands of buildings, including many farms, were damaged. In Hungary, authorities are still in the process of preparing for what some expect to be the worst flooding to hit the country’s capital Budapest in years as water levels of the Danube River continue to rise. Authorities in nearby Slovakia had already declared a state of emergency over the weekend after floods affected parts of its capital city Bratislava.
Weather situation to improve, but full normalization unlikely for at least another week
As for the forecast, rainfall is now beginning to ease across the hardest hit areas as the storm system weakens and shifts away from the area. The drier pattern will allow river flooding to gradually subside. At this time, river levels are expected to drop below flood levels by September 19 in countries like the Czech Republic. However, farther downstream, river flooding will continue longer with river levels in Hungary likely not falling below flood levels until September 23-24. With clean-up and repair operations yet to get underway in many parts of eastern and central Europe, those doing business in the affected regions should anticipate further transportation and business disruptions in the weeks to come.
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