WARSAW: The leaders of the four countries affected by Storm Boris will meet European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Poland on Thursday to discuss aid to the flood-hit region. The death toll from a storm that has battered central and eastern Europe in recent days rose to 24 on Wednesday, with some areas still threatened by rising water. Strong winds and heavy rains have plagued the region since last week, with five deaths in Austria, seven in Poland, seven in Romania and five in the Czech Republic. The meeting between Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, his Czech counterpart Petr Fiala, Slovak Robert Fico and Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer will take place in Wrocław, a historic city with 670,000 inhabitants in southwestern Poland. Residents of Wrocław, hit by devastating floods in 1997, are increasingly worried about rising waters. They are expected to reach their peak on Thursday. Although it is expected to be lower than in 1997, the dams could be threatened if the high water lasts for several days. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who canceled all his international engagements this week due to the storm, will not attend the meeting, although his country has also been hit hard. The Romanian Prime Minister will also be absent due to the defense meeting. Fiala said on Wednesday at X that the leaders will “discuss the possibilities of European financial assistance to the Czech Republic and other Central European countries”. The commission’s deputy chief spokeswoman, Arianna Podesta, told reporters that von der Leyen would “visit the threatened area in Wrocław to assess the situation created by the recent heavy flooding and rains that hit Poland.” “He will discuss the measures taken by the authorities in response to this crisis,” she added. Austria’s Nehammer said: “We need to use and expand the tools that have been created for disasters like this. I will call on Poland to activate the EU’s civil protection mechanism.” The Czech Republic has already requested the activation of the aid acceptance mechanism. Nehammer said the summit will also focus on “even better coordination of flood response measures”. In Poland, several towns and villages were destroyed by floods that demolished houses, tore down bridges and severely damaged road and rail infrastructure. In some areas, residents still lack drinking water and electricity. Public funding initiatives were organized across the country as local authorities began to assess the damage, which could reach billions of zlotys. The Polish government said it had unblocked 470 million euros (two billion zlotys) for direct aid to people and localities affected by the floods. Austria has announced that its flood relief fund will be increased to one billion euros.
