Intense storms battering central Europe are now reaching Italy, where warnings for heavy rain, strong winds and flooding have been issued for most of the country.
Flooding has already been reported in the central city of Pescara, while the weather warning of the Italian meteorological service applies from the northern coast of Emilia-Romagna to the extreme south.
The warnings come as The floods devastated parts of Polandthe Czech Republic, Romania and Austria this week, leaving at least 21 dead.
Authorities in Croatia, Hungary and Slovakia are also warning of flooding in the coming days.
The significant flooding was caused by Storm Boris, which brought large amounts of rain and snow over the weekend.
More than 5,000 soldiers have been deployed to help people in southern Poland, including the 40,000 residents evacuated from the city of Nysa.
Floodwaters are receding in some parts of the region and spreading in others, with the extent of the damage revealed in Polish cities such as Glucholazy.
The city’s main bridge collapsed after being damaged by the swollen river, while many of its streets were covered in mud.
Polish police on Tuesday confirmed that at least six people had died, warning against “false information” after media reports put the total number of people killed at more than a dozen.
The country’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, has declared a month-long state of natural disaster – with the worst flooding expected to hit the city of Wroclaw on Wednesday.
The areas along the Czech-Polish border are among the most affected, where 15,000 people have been evacuated also in the Czech Republic.
The country experienced the worst flooding in more than 27 years, according to the local NGO Čnoký v tísn.
Ostrava was one of the hardest hit cities, after the Oder River burst its banks following heavy rainfall on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, water levels continue to rise rapidly on the Danube River in Slovakia and Hungary, with the Slovak capital Bratislava and its Hungarian counterpart Budapest bracing for possible flooding.
Emergency services and volunteers, in some places supported by the army, are also working 24 hours a day to protect low-lying settlements in the region.
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Austrian authorities have closed sections of the Danube to shipping traffic over high water levels along the vital waterway, according to local media reports.
The Croatian Meteorological and Hydrological Service has warned that the river could experience an “extremely rare” rise in water – and confirmed plans are in place to put up flood barriers if necessary.
In Italy, the country’s National Civil Protection Service has also issued yellow warnings for almost 50 regions tomorrow, warning that there is a risk of storms, landslides and floods.
Professor Hannah Cloke, a meteorologist at the University of Reading, told the BBC that river levels had risen in most of the smaller high-altitude rivers of eastern Europe.
“Some larger rivers, such as the Danube and the Oder, are still partly rising and will not begin to fall again until late Tuesday or Wednesday, and remain much higher than normal,” he added.
BBC weather forecasts indicate the Emilia-Romagna and Marche regions as areas of greatest concern.
The region could see one to two months of rainfall in the next three days alone, and there are major concerns about the prospect of flooding.
Firefighters in Pescara, Abruzzo say they have already received more than 200 calls for help after heavy rains caused flooding.
In Romania, more rain is expected in the eastern Carpathians, which will endanger towns and villages in the counties of Galati and Vaslui, which are already hard hit.
Extreme precipitation is becoming more frequent and intense across central Europe, as it is in much of the world.
While the events in central Europe fit the expectations of more extreme precipitation in a warming world, it is not yet possible to quantify exactly how much of a role climate change has played.
To know for sure, that requires a complete scientific analysis of natural and human influences – which can take weeks or months.
But climate scientists have been warning for years about extreme rainfall events like these occurring as the planet warms.
A warmer atmosphere contains more moisture, which leads to more intense precipitation.
Warmer oceans also lead to more evaporation, fueling storm systems.
For every 1C increase in global average temperature, the atmosphere is able to hold about 7% more moisture.
Professor Cloke told BBC experts that climate change will lead to worse flooding in the coming years if global temperatures continue to rise, as “extreme summer rains are heavier and fill rivers more quickly.”
She also noted: “Just a few weeks ago, parts of southern and eastern Europe were suffering from drought, heat waves and fires.”
“We’re out of the pan and into hot water.”