At Least 19 Dead as Storm Boris Impacts Central Europe

Facts

• At least 19 people have reportedly died till now in flooding caused by Storm Boris in central and eastern Europe, particularly Romania, Austria, Poland, and the Czech Republic.^[1]
• Among the dead are a firefighter in Austria's state of Lower Austria. Over 25K emergency personnel are deployed in that region.^[2]
• Storm Boris has reportedly caused over three months' rainfall in only three days in some countries, leaving several missing in the resultant catastrophic floods.^[3]
• Towns like Poland's Klodzko and Litovlje in the Czech Republic remained submerged on Monday while cities like Bratislava expected water levels to rise further.^[4]
• With several roads submerged and bridges destroyed, the police, military, and fire services in some places were dependent on helicopters to reach those stranded.^[5]
• The inclement weather — torrential rain and flooding, unusual snowfall, and strong winds — is expected to last till Tuesday. The floodwaters may take days to subside.^[6]

Sources: ^[1]Al Jazeera, ^[2]XINHUA, ^[3]BBC News, ^[4]CNN, ^[5]Inews.Co.Uk and ^[6]Guardian.

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by Washington Post. A rare coming together of extreme weather systems — Arctic air colliding with warm, moist air from the east — catalyzed deadly Storm Boris. This was intensified by record humidity and a historically warm Mediterranean Sea. The deluge has caused tragic losses and is a stark reminder of the intensifying effects of climate change.
• Narrative B, as provided by FT. It's easy to dismiss any extreme weather event as a consequence of climate change, but in reality, they're usually influenced by a myriad of factors that have nothing to do with it. More research is needed before we can establish any direct causal link between the two.

Predictions