Cities from Budapest to Wroclaw in Poland are racing to build up their defenses as floodwaters peak over the coming days.
The floods that unleashed destruction across central Europe are receding in many places after the torrential rain from Storm Boris passed, but towns and villages downstream are braced for rising river levels. More than 20 people have died across the region.
Drawing on the lessons learned from massive floods in 1997, countries such as Poland and the Czech Republic have invested in control systems and retention reservoirs. That’s curbing some of the worst flood impacts, though the situation in Austria is complicated by meltwater after as much as 150 centimeters of snow fell in parts of the Alps over the past week.
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