Home / Weather News /

Flooding disaster in Central Europe

13:40
17 September 2024

Storm Boris
Flooding disaster in Central Europe

What has happened?

A devastating storm unleashed torrential rain and produced fatal flooding across parts of Central Europe in recent days. Several months of rain fell in just a few days, while heavy snow blanketed Alpine regions.

The death toll has reached at least 17 so far, with thousands more displaced. Countries including the Czech Republic, Austria, Poland, Romania, Hungary, south-east Germany and Slovakia have experienced some of the worst flooding in decades.

The flood risk is set to continue and perhaps even worsen in the coming days, as rivers continue to flood and burst their banks, with bridges disappearing. The Danube River, for example, is rising by around one metre every 24 hours.

1/4
The storms raged over the weekend, 14th and 15th September.

It will take several days for the river levels to drop, with the high temperatures also exacerbating the Alpine snow melt at higher altitudes, leading to continued flooding downstream.

Intense early season snowfall for Alpsread more

Why did this occur?

The devastation in the wake of Storm Boris can be attributed to a culmination of factors.

The Mediterranean Sea has been exceptionally warm in recent months with heat records broken. The warmer the water, the more fuel available as energy for a storm as the water evaporates.

Meanwhile, to the north, there has been an arctic blast of cold air as the jet stream plunged south.

Along this boundary of warm and cold air clashing, there was a sharp temperature gradient ripe for weather fronts.

Storm Boris formed along this boundary, stalling over Central Europe as it gained energy from the warm surrounding sea.

The amount of precipitation was then exacerbated due to an orography as nearby mountain ranges forced this warm, moist air upwards.

More on the topic
Monday 30 June 2025

Noctilucent cloud season

Shimmering clouds over UK and Ireland
Friday 4 July 2025

Across UK and Ireland

Gusting winds prompt warnings
Tuesday 1 July 2025

Not just the UK

Heatwave grips continental Europe
All weather news
This might also interest you
Two weather radars side-by-side, one showing sunny conditions over the UK and the other a temperature map showing widespread warmth.
Thursday 10 July 2025

Breakfast brief

Turning sunnier and warmer
Thursday 3 July 2025

Gusty too

Rainfall passes through the north
Thursday 3 July 2025

Breakfast brief

Pleasant for some, unsettled for others
All articles
Weather & Radar

www.weatherandradar.ie

facebooktwitteryouTubeContact uslinkList
Privacy Policy | Legal info | Accessibility statement