Latest news After dam burst in Poland: Water rises in Klodzko

The situation in the small town of Klodzko has worsened after a dam burst in the Snow Mountains on Poland's border with the Czech Republic. A new flood wave has reached the town, Mayor Michal Piszko told the news agency PAP. The Glatzer Neisse, a tributary of the Oder, now has a water level of 6.84 meters at Klodzko. An average water level of around one meter is usual, a spokesman for the fire department told the German Press Agency.

In some streets of the town, the water was one and a half meters high, the mayor added. Mountain troops from the Polish army were on their way with boats to rescue citizens who had fled from the water to the second or third floor of their houses. In the town of 26,000 inhabitants, which lies one hundred kilometers south of Wroclaw, there is no longer a water supply. The gas will also be turned off soon, said the mayor.

A dam had previously burst in Stronie Slaskie in Lower Silesia. The water now flows from there via the Biala Ladecka river into the Glatzer Neisse.