The Hungarian capital city of Budapest is reeling from the worst flooding that has hit central Europe in at least two decades.
Record heavy rainfall and floods generated by Storm Boris have left a trail of destruction from Romania to Poland, spreading mud and debris, destroying bridges, submerging cars and leaving authorities with a bill for damages expected to run into billions of U.S. dollars.
Floodwaters continued to rise in Budapest on Friday, flooding streets around the parliament building. The city has closed Margaret Island, a recreational area with hotels and restaurants.
In a residential neighborhood north of the city center, rows after rows of homes remain inundated. There are about 5,000 people living in this area. Their streets have been turned into rivers.
Most of the people, however, say that they are not going to evacuate. Instead, they are going to pump water out of their basements and underground car drives, so that they can stay put for safety concerns.
They are calling on the authorities for help, complaining that they didn't get the resources that they need.
The Central European country has entered the most challenging phase of dealing with the current wave of flooding, Prime Minister Viktor Orban announced on Wednesday.
Response efforts are projected to last for around a week, with floodwaters expected to recede from the southern border to Serbia by next Thursday.
Budapest reels from Central Europe's worst flooding in two decades
The United States is behind the explosions of wireless communication devices across Lebanon as "it's hard for Israel to do it by itself," a Lebanese political and military strategic analyst said Friday.
General Georges Saghir, also a former brigadier general in the Lebanese Army, shared his view on this series of attacks on Tuesday and Wednesday, killing at least 30 people, including children, and injuring about 3,000. He said Israel has been helped by the United States to do that.
The Lebanese government and Iran-backed Hezbollah blamed Israel for the deadly blasts of pagers and walkie-talkie devices, but Israel has not commented directly on the explosions.
"This is the manipulation of an electromagnetic spectrum. It's very advanced, very technological. And it's hard for Israel to do it by itself. The technique is possessed only by very advanced (countries) like the United States. Israel, I think, it has been helped by the United States," Saghir said.
The expert said such a cyber attack is less costly and risky than an attack on Lebanon.
"If you take your own mobile, it's a lithium battery and we have heard of so many accidents, incidents happening. When the battery was so warm and after this heat, there was an explosion. So it's the same thing, but it's like a beam projected on the area where people have a lithium battery on their mobile or on their pagers. And they manipulate the frequency until they hit it, and then it explodes. The cyber attack, they use it now because it is less, by cost, than can do to people," he said.
Tensions along the Israel-Lebanon border have intensified since Oct 8, 2023, when Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel in solidarity with Hamas. Israel responded with artillery fire into southeastern Lebanon. The conflict has since resulted in significant casualties on both sides.
US behind Lebanon wireless device blasts: expert
US behind Lebanon wireless device blasts: expert
