Floods force hundreds to evacuate

2013-06-03 80

Torrential rains caused widespread flooding and landslides across Austria on Sunday (June 2), forcing hundreds of people to evacuate their homes.

At least one person died and two were missing in the deluge, which dumped up to two months' worth of rain in just days in some places.

One clean-up worker was killed in a mudslide in the town of St Johann near Salzburg, while two other people were missing in the province after being swept into raging streams.

Amongst the worst affected regions were the provinces of Upper Austria, Tyrol and Styria, which in some areas experienced worse flooding than 2002.

In Schaerding, in Upper Austria, the river Inn flooded the town centre as its water level reached a hundred-year high, which forced some 130 homes to be evacuated.

Firefighting units in the area had to close off all local roads and worked to place sand bag barriers around homes and buildings.

Austrian state weather service ZAMG forecast that rain would slac