Brno evacuates the Hospital of the Merciful Brothers: It’s about prevention

Although river levels in southern Moravia are rising, this is mainly due to the release of dams. There is no real threat yet. However, Brno is evacuating the Hospital of the Merciful Brothers as a precaution, where there is a risk of rising ground water in particular. “Approximately 180 patients are affected,” said hospital director Pavel Piler.

The municipal facility is located in a flood zone near the Svratka, the level of which is rising. “We are therefore taking preventive measures. The svratka should not spill out of the trough, it is more complicated with Svitava. However, I do not expect that the worst-case scenario, i.e. the evacuation of people, will come true. However, if it were to happen, we are ready, the capacities are available at the exhibition grounds,” said the primary teacher Markéta Vaňková.

Awesome day

“According to current forecasts, the hospital should not be flooded. We are clearing it for preventive reasons,” Jan Grolich, Governor of the South Moravian Region, confirmed. According to the mayor of Brno, Markéta Vaňková, some patients have already been transferred to other hospitals in Brno. “Today (Saturday) we will transport others to other regional hospitals,” she stated.

Firefighters in southern Moravia had a tough day on Friday. “We had more than 260 interventions and over 2,200 firefighters were deployed. Most often it involved pumping water, clearing fallen trees and filling sandbags,” their director Jiří Pelikán outlined the work of the firefighters.

Camp and kindergarten cleared

According to him, two of the interventions were extraordinary. “One of them was the evacuation of a children’s camp and the second was the evacuation of a kindergarten in Brno. Paradoxically, the water from the mountain caused problems there, the rain gutters got clogged.” Pelican clarified.

Firefighters admit they would appreciate help with bagging. “We have a bagging center in Brno at the exhibition grounds. It is a physically demanding job where you need to rotate people. We therefore welcome any help,” added the fire chief.

It won’t stop raining even on Sunday

Antonín Tůma from Povodí Morava pointed out that the precipitation should not stop on Sunday, as was originally expected. “Yesterday it rained around 100 mm, today we expect approximately the same amount and also on Sunday and Monday another 50 mm of rain should fall. For now, we can regulate everything with tanks. At the same time, we can still increase the drains on some of them,” reassured Tůma.

According to him, there is a 3rd flood stage on several rivers. “However, this is not caused by the current weather, but by the release of dams,” Tuma explained.