Heavy storm in Warsaw leads to record rainfall

Over the past 24 hours, Warsaw has experienced heavy rainfall, with some parts of the city recording as much as 120 litres of rain per square metre, nearly double the previous record.

The rainfall led to flooding on key roads and temporarily brought traffic at Warsaw’s Chopin Airport to a standstill.

The fire service intervened in the city around 1,000 times between Monday and Tuesday morning.

On Tuesday morning, the Institute of Meteorology and Water Management (IMGW) reported that around 120 litres of rain per square metre had fallen in Bielany, a district in the north of Warsaw, over the past 24 hours, almost twice the previous record of 69 litres and double the rainfall norm for the whole month of August.

A record was also set at Chopin Airport, where 94 litres of rain fell per square metre in 24 hours – 20 litres more than the previous record.

Measurements in Bielany have been recorded for several decades and at Chopin Airport for almost 100 years, IMGW spokesman Grzegorz Walijewski told the Gazeta Wyborcza daily.

“Imagine 10 10-litre buckets poured into a square measuring one metre by one metre,” said Walijewski. The newspaper did not state when the previous records were recorded.

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As a result of heavy rains in Warsaw, some of the city’s key roads flooded, including the S8 expressway and the tunnel on the S2 expressway leading to Chopin Airport. At the time of writing, part of the S2 is still closed.

Aircraft take-offs and landings at the airport were temporarily suspended and the roof in the baggage claim area began to leak, reported broadcaster RMF FM. Warehouse roofs also collapsed in some areas surrounding Warsaw.

Heavy rainfall was also reported in other parts of the country. Between Monday and Tuesday morning, firefighters intervened 2,900 times across Poland, the Polish Press Agency (PAP) reported. The fire service intervened about 1,000 times in Warsaw alone, reported RMF FM.

On Tuesday morning, Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski wrote on social media that he had held a joint staff meeting overnight with representatives of the provincial governor, the fire service and the police to coordinate a response to the downpour as quickly as possible.

At the same time, he urged residents to use urban transport and avoid flooded areas. “There are no disruptions to the metro service,” he added.

The record rain came after a period of as much as two weeks of drought, reported Gazeta Wyborcza. Walijewski of IMGW told the newspaper that the heavy rainfall in Warsaw was the result of “very peculiar” atmospheric conditions.

“It was…the meeting point of two different air masses: a very warm tropical mass laid to the east, while a cooler one moved in from the west. At the meeting point of the two masses, dangerous currents occur. And the tropical air has a very high humidity,” he said.

“If it were not for climate change, tropical air would not have reached Poland so freely and would not come here so often,” the spokesman added.

Main image credit: Rafał Motyl / Urzad Miasta Warszawy

Alicja Ptak

Alicja Ptak is senior editor at Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She previously worked for Reuters.