Floods render people helpless

Heavy rainfall over the weekend has flooded the triangle where Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic meet. There were several deaths, and millions of euros in damage. The business paper Hospodářské noviny notes that people in such situations are helpless: "It's no one's fault. Meteorologists issued their warning, and the rescue system functioned. Nevertheless there were deaths and heavy damages. This reveals our limited capacity to deal with the results of climate changes. One can't do anything about flash floods that come and go like an invasion of Apaches in Mexican villages. ... In the [most heavily affected] Izera Mountains there are reservoirs meant to prevent flooding. But they are intended for the 'flood of the century' and can't handle more than that. ... It is an unpleasant truth: This type of flood will recur, and nobody knows where or when. ... A hydrologist put it best: 'There's nothing you can do but run.'"

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