Eastern Austria: Heavy Rain and Flood Damage

Local fire and rescue services in the town of St. Leonhard in eastern Austria say overnight flooding on Wednesday has done considerable damage to the area.

[Erwin Handl, Deputy Fire Department Commander]:
„The rivers Melk and Mank were about to overflow. We used sandbags to secure everything. As of yesterday morning 7:00 a.m., we regularly checked water levels and then put the sandbags in place.”

The Mank River flooded large parts of a residential area.

[Erwin Handl, Deputy Fire Department Commander]:
„We set off the alarm at 3:00 a.m. today. Within two hours the housing development was submerged under a meter of water (and) about 50 houses are affected.“

Resident Rudolf Luger described how he was woken up by the local siren at 3:00 a.m.

[Rudolf Luger, Resident]:
„I went into the basement and saw the water rising. I put a pump in but within a very short period of time, a half hour, water was everywhere in the basement.“

Luger, who suffered only material damage, said he misjudged the situation and underestimated the danger.

[Rudolf Luger, Resident]:
„All this can be restored, but a human life can’t be. I fought for my life and I promised myself never to go into the basement again if it’s under water. Never again.“

(NTDTV)