Floods are the most common and most costly natural disasters in Europe. They are becoming more frequent due to climate change. What is Europe doing to anticipate and limit the damage?
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00:00I wouldn't call it a flood, it was just a cataclysm.
00:07I'm in Londestru.
00:09This town in the south-west of Poland
00:11is one of the most affected areas by the floods of last September.
00:21The Borys storm left a trail of death and devastation
00:25here in Poland and in much of Central Europe.
00:28There have been 30 deaths, 9 in Poland.
00:36Floods are the most common and expensive natural disasters in Europe.
00:41They are more and more frequent due to climate change
00:44and experts say the situation is destined to worsen.
00:51What does Europe do to prevent and limit damage?
00:55We'll talk about it in the European Stories.
00:58EUROPEAN STORIES
01:03In the last 30 years,
01:04floods have affected 5.5 million people in the European Union,
01:09causing 3,000 deaths and more than 170 billion euros in damage.
01:17The Union has various mechanisms to support Member States.
01:25When an emergency occurs,
01:26the first response of Europe to disasters
01:29is the European Civil Protection Mechanism.
01:32It organises and coordinates an emergency response
01:35between all the EU countries and 10 other Member States.
01:40Since 2001, it has intervened more than 700 times.
01:44The Reserve for Emergency Aid
01:46provides a rapid financial response to all types of emergencies.
01:51The Union's Solidarity Fund
01:53offers a long-term financial support.
01:56Since 2002, it has allocated more than 8.2 billion euros.
02:00Floods are the most financed event.
02:10Here in Poland,
02:11floods have hit about 750 villages and towns.
02:16More than 6,500 people have been evacuated.
02:19The number of damaged houses has been more than 11,500.
02:26On 15 September 2024,
02:28it will not be forgotten in the south-west of Poland.
02:32The dam at Monte delle Cittadine d'Istronie and Ladek Zdrój
02:35has collapsed after days of torrential rain.
02:40An investigation is underway into the collapse of the structure,
02:43which was built at the beginning of the 20th century.
02:45Another dam, not far from it, has not survived.
02:50THE DAMAGE IS STILL UNKNOWN
02:56I met Zbigniew in the countryside around Ladek Zdrój.
03:01He was recovering the few salvable things in his parents' house,
03:05which they had lived in this apartment for over 30 years.
03:12Here, the water was under the ceiling.
03:15Here was the kitchen.
03:18Here were the furniture on the wall.
03:20There was a mother-in-law's bedroom.
03:23And this wall, simply under the influence of water,
03:27was in the garage.
03:31So there was nothing left of the kitchen.
03:41After two days, you could just leave here.
03:45The view was tragic.
03:47It's hard to describe.
03:53When I look at the photos from the war in Ukraine,
03:56it's the same, but they don't shoot.
04:01The September disaster reminded Zbigniew
04:04of the millennium floods that hit Poland in 1997.
04:09There were over 50 deaths at the time.
04:12This year, the damage was similar in some areas.
04:20The flood destroyed their house three times.
04:23They had to rebuild it three times.
04:27This year's flood has completely destroyed them.
04:32They won't come back here.
04:35The age doesn't allow them to.
04:38The flood protection systems were reinforced in Poland
04:42after the great flood of 1997.
04:45It was the turning point in crisis management
04:48and in the protection of the country.
04:50Today, more reports say that the risk reduction
04:53in the event of a flood requires even more effort.
04:56Priorities are focused on large infrastructures,
04:59while local solutions on a small scale
05:02need to be enhanced.
05:04After the flood in 1997, there was a flood zone.
05:08New buildings can't be built.
05:11They had to be repaired on old foundations.
05:14If a building was damaged, it could be rebuilt.
05:17That's what they did in this state.
05:28There were supposed to be retention tanks,
05:31but they weren't built.
05:33There were protests.
05:35Some people were for it, others were against it.
05:38It's said that four or five such tanks
05:41still need to be built,
05:43so that it's safe.
05:45But it's still like that.
05:57The residents of Polish towns
05:59devastated by the September floods
06:01don't have a clear idea
06:03of how Europe is acting in their support.
06:06I asked the spokesman for the European Green Deal
06:09to explain the role of Europe
06:11in the event of natural disasters, such as floods.
06:29Prevention and preparedness.
06:31An amount of approximately 6.5 billion
06:34has been allocated for the prevention or management
06:37of floods and landslides.
06:39Poland has earmarked around 2.9 billion
06:42for preventing and managing climate-related risks
06:45under the current programme period.
06:48That's a big chunk of money.
06:50But how is all this money used
06:52and how does the EU monitor the way it's spent?
06:55An extremely important principle to bear in mind
06:58when it comes to money
07:00is the fact that it's the member states that use the money.
07:03Commission and the member states agree on programmes,
07:06on the priorities for funding.
07:08We call this in cohesion policy shared management.
07:11It makes total sense, of course,
07:13because the member states are a much better place
07:16to know which organisations require which type of funding.
07:19So we make sure that funds are made available
07:22to the member states,
07:25and it's the member states
07:27that manage the funding.
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