Central Europe flooding leaves 16 dead in Romania, Poland, Czech Republic and Austria

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Exceptionally heavy rainfall pounding Central Europe has prompted deadly flooding in the region, with four new deaths reported Monday in Poland, three in the Czech Republic and one in Romania.

The flooding has swamped parts of Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland and Romania as a low-pressure system crossing the region has unleashed record-high rains for days, and it was expected to affect Slovakia and Hungary later in the week. So far 16 people have been reported killed — seven people in Romania, five in Poland, three in the Czech Republic and one in Austria.

In Poland, Prime Minister Donald Tusk held an emergency meeting and later declared a disaster in flooded areas, a government measure to facilitate evacuation and rescues. He also said the government would provide 1 billion zlotys ($260 million) in immediate payouts to victims.

The flooding in Poland has burst dams and embankments while receding waters left streets covered in piles of debris and mud. It prompted a hospital in the southwestern Polish city of Nysa to evacuate about 40 patients.

Schools and offices in the affected areas were closed Monday and drinking water and food were being delivered by trucks. Many Polish cities, including Warsaw, have called for food donations for flood survivors.

Experts warned of flood threats due to the cresting Oder River in Opole, a city of some 130,000 residents, and Wroclaw, home to about 640,000 residents and where disastrous flooding happened in 1997.

Firefighters in southwestern Poland said flood victims included a surgeon whose body was found Monday morning in Nysa after he returned from hospital duty. The bodies of two women and two other men have been found in other communities in the region.

Police in the Czech Republic said that a woman and two men drowned in the northeast, which has been pounded by record rainfall since Thursday. The woman was found in the water in the town of Krasov and the men were found dead at different locations after water receded in the town of Krnov which was almost completely submerged on Sunday

Romanian authorities said Monday that another person died in the eastern county of Galati, bringing the total number of deaths there to seven.

One death previously was reported in Austria.

Authorities in the Czech Republic declared an emergency in two northeastern regions, including in the Jeseniky mountains near the Polish border.

A number of towns and cities had been submerged in the northeast, with thousands evacuated. Military helicopters joined rescuers on boats in efforts to transport people to safety. Waters were receding from the mountainous areas on Monday, leaving behind destroyed houses and bridges and damaged roads.

In most parts of the country, conditions were expected to improve later Monday.

Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala visited the town of Jesenik, one of the hardest hit places.

“The worst is behind us and now, we have to deal with all the damage,” Fiala said following the visit.

In Hungary, the mayor of Budapest warned residents that the largest floods in a decade were expected to hit the capital later in the week, with the waters of the Danube River set to breach the city’s lower quays by Tuesday morning.

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán canceled his planned foreign engagements, including an address to a plenary session of the European Parliament on Wednesday where heated debates were expected over his conduct since Hungary took over the European Union’s rotating presidency in July.

“Until we reach the peak and get past the worst of it, I naturally won’t be leaving the country, I’ll be here at home,” he said.

Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony wrote on Facebook that the city would use 1 million sandbags to bolster flood defenses, and asked residents to take extra care when near the river.

Karel Janicek reported from Prague. Justin Spike contributed to this report from Budapest, Hungary.

The version corrects a dollar conversion in the third graf, $260 million not $258,000.

Residents ride bicycles through a flooded street in Litovel, Czech Republic, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

A resident walks through a flooded street in Liotvel, Czech Republic, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

A resident rides a bicycle through a flooded street in Litovel, Czech Republic, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

A car is stucked on a river bank after recent floods in Domasov, Czech Republic, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

An aerial view of a flooded neighborhood in Ostrava, Czech Republic, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)

An aerial view of a flooded neighborhood in Ostrava, Czech Republic, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)

Soldiers build barriers with sandbags against flood water at the bank of Danube River in Pilismarot, Hungary, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (Robert Hegedus/MTI via AP)

An aerial view of a flooded neighbourhood in Ostrava, Czech Republic, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)

Soldiers build barriers with sandbags against flood water at the bank of Danube River in Pilismarot, Hungary, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (Robert Hegedus/MTI via AP)

View of the river Elbe in flood, in Rathen, Germany, Monday Sept. 16, 2024. The water levels continue to rise in Saxony. (Jan Woitas/dpa via AP)

An electricity pylon stands in the flood waters of the Neisse, in the Hagenwerder district of Görlitz, Germany, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (Paul Glaser/dpa via AP)

A view of the southern Görlitz district of Weinhübel and the Neiße river overflowing its banks, in Germany, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (Paul Glaser/dpa via AP)

Dark clouds are seen over the Parliament building in Budapest, Hungary, during the flooding of the Danube river on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)

People fill sandbags to reinforce the dam due to the flooding of the Danube river at Tahitotfalu, Hungary, on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)

People fill sandbags to reinforce the dam due to the flooding of the Danube river at Tahitotfalu, Hungary, on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)

A dam is built to protect Margaret Island in Budapest, Hungary, due to the flooding of the Danube river on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)

Dark clouds are seen over the Parliament building in Budapest, Hungary, during the flooding of the Danube river on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)

People fill sandbags to reinforce the dam due to the flooding of the Danube river at Tahitotfalu, Hungary, on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)

View of the Bratislava castle as the water level of the Danube river rises during recent floods in Slovakia, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Tomas Hrivnak)

An aerial view of the River Neisse overflowing its banks, south of Görlitz, Germany, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (Paul Glaser/dpa via AP)

An aerial view of a flooded neighbourhood in Ostrava, Czech Republic, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)

This handout photo provided by the Polish fire department, shows a flooded area near the Nysa Klodzka river in Nysa, Poland on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (KG PSP Photo via AP)

This handout photo provided by the Polish fire department, shows a flooded area near the Nysa Klodzka river in Nysa, Poland on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (KG PSP Photo via AP)

This handout photo provided by the Polish fire department, shows a flooded area near the Nysa Klodzka river in Nysa, Poland on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (KG PSP Photo via AP)

A resident struggles through mud to his house after recent floods in Jesenik, Czech Republic, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

Residents look at the damage done by recent floods in Jesenik, Czech Republic, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

Residents walk through debris after recent floods in Jesenik, Czech Republic, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

Residents look at the damage done by recent floods in Jesenik, Czech Republic, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

A resident rides a motorcycle after recent floods in Jesenik, Czech Republic, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

A view of the damage done by recent floods in Jesenik, Czech Republic, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

View of the destroyed bridge after recent floods in Jesenik, Czech Republic, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

A resident struggles through mud to his house after recent floods in Jesenik, Czech Republic, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

Resident struggle through mud after recent floods in Jesenik, Czech Republic, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

A resident looks at his damaged car after recent floods in Jesenik, Czech Republic, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

Two German Federal Police officers patrol at the border crossing to Poland in Frankfurt/Oder, Germany, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (Patrick Pleul/dpa via AP)

A view of the damage done by recent floods in Jesenik, Czech Republic, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

Hanukkah — also spelled Chanukah or other transliterations from Hebrew — is Judaism’s “festival of lights.” On eight consecutive nightfalls, Jews gather with family and friends to light one additional candle in the menorah — a multibranched candelabra.

In Hebrew, Hanukkah means “dedication,” and the holiday marks the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem in the 2nd century BC, after a small group of Jewish fighters liberated it from occupying foreign forces.

With the tiny supply of ritually pure oil that they found in the temple, they lit the menorah — and it stayed lit for eight days. The ritual of lighting a nightly candle, as well as the emphasis on cooking foods in oil such as potato pancakes called latkes, memorialize this miraculously long-lasting oil.

The dates of the holiday are based on Hebrew month of Kislev, which usually coincides with November-December in the Gregorian calendar.

This year, Hanukkah will be celebrated from Dec. 25, 2024, through Jan. 2, 2025.

Jews across the religious observance spectrum — from Reform to Conservative to Orthodox — focus on the same theme of bringing light into the darkness and emphasizing that even a small, against-the-odds effort can have a transforming effect.

For this reason, even though the Talmud reflects a dispute over the order of lighting, most start with one candle and increase the lighting by one more candle each night while reciting or chanting special blessings.

The candles are added from right to left, but lit from left to right on the menorah, thus always starting with the newest light. The special menorah used for Hanukkah has eight branches, with a ninth place for the candle called shamash from which all others are lit.

The tradition calls for candles with a real flame, though some also use electric ones in public displays, such as in hospitals, for safety reasons.

A menorah is lit in each household and traditionally is placed where it can be seen from the outside, such as a doorway or windowsill, to symbolize the spreading of God’s light to all nations.

The lighting of menorahs in city streets and parks has become more prominent in recent years in countries around the world, including in front of public landmarks.

In addition to menorah lightings, giving to charity and social works are also part of the celebration for many, reflecting the belief that the Jewish people are called by God to help make the world better for all.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Rabbi Peter Tarlow lights a candle on a menorah during a Chicanukah event at Holocaust Museum Houston on Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, in Houston. (AP Photo/Annie Mulligan)