The railway line between Strakonice and Horažďovice, which has been impassable since Tuesday after the storm, will be closed until July 3. This is according to information on the Czech Railways (ČD) website. It is the main line from Plzeň to České Budějovice.
After the storm and the rain, the Blanice river is now swollen in the region. According to information from the Vltava River Basin, flood activity is at the second level at Podedvorsk mill and the first level at Husinec.
The railway administration said on Tuesday that repairs would take several days and that a geotechnical engineer would have to assess the line’s condition, Dušan Gavenda, a spokesman for the Railway Administration, said.
ČD has arranged alternative bus transport. The line is underground. Trees have fallen on the overhead line. It is the Strakonice-Katovice section. According to meteorologists, it rained 187.5 liters per square meter near Katovice on Tuesday night.
There were thunderstorms and heavy rains in southern Bohemia on Monday and Tuesday evening and overnight. Firefighters had more than 90 interventions during the night on Tuesday, and Tuesday, from 19:00 to 22:00, they went out 20 times because of the storm and rains. They cleared fallen trees, pumped out water, and cleaned ponds.
In České Velenice, the roof of an apartment building was blown off by a big wind on Tuesday evening, and firefighters put foil on the roof to prevent leaks. The spokeswoman for the regional fire brigade, Vendula Matějů, and the mayor of České Velenice, Jaromír Slíva (ČSSD), said.