A freak tornado caused significant damage yesterday to several villages in the Břeclav and Hodonín districts of South Moravia. The worst of the storm was felt in the villages of Lužice and Mikulčice in the Hodonín district and Moravská Nová Ves and Hrušky in the Břeclav district, as well as the town of Hodonín. Photo Credit: HZS JmK via Facebook.
Czech Rep., June 25 (BD) – Emergency services were working through the night last night to extract survivors from the rubble, after a freak tornado hit several locations in South Moravia. The most affected villages were Lužice and Mikulčice in the Hodonín district and Moravská Nová Ves and Hrušky in the Břeclav district, and the town of Hodonín also suffered significant damage. According to reports in Czech media, half of Hrušky was flattened to the ground.
Shortly before 11pm last night, Hedvika Kropáčková, a spokeswoman for the South Moravian Rescue Service, confirmed that the storm had claimed victims: “We have confirmed victims, but we cannot determine the numbers yet. So far, they are in single figures, but nothing is certain.” All departments of the Czech integrated rescue service, including the Urban Search and Rescue Team (USAR) were deployed to the scene.
Video Credit: HZS JmK via Facebook.
The storm left 32,000 households in South Moravia without electricity, and thousands more across the country. The tornado emerged during general storm and hail conditions in the area. The severity of the situation soon became clear to emergency services. “There are bus accidents, torn roofs, probably desperate people in buildings. We are sending everything that has hands, wheels, everything to these regions,” said Kropáčková.
Hospitals in the area reported treating hundreds of wounded, and several deaths, as reported by Czech news server Seznam Zprávy. “They were brought here by ambulances, firefighters, but also in the cars of relatives. There was blood everywhere and helpless people in tears. They barely saved their own lives and lost their roofs over their heads,” said Antonín Tesařík, Director of Hodonín Hospital.
The Czech Hydrometeorological Institute confirmed that the area had been hit by a tornado. Quoted in Seznam Zprávy, meteorologist Michal Žák described the tornado as an unprecedented event, possibly grade 3 to 4, and said that such large tornadoes are quite unusual in Europe. The last tornado in the Czech Republic was in September 2018 in the České Budějovice region.
[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”383″ gal_title=”Tornado in South Moravia”]Photos: Yesterday a tornado caused significant damage to several villages in the Břeclav and Hodonín districts of South Moravia. Credit: HZS JmK via Facebook.
