Tornado followed by storm hits Budapest

Heavy rainfall caused serious disruptions in Budapest on Wednesday evening. The underpass at Konyves Kalman Boulevard Kobanyai Road, a main intersection, was flooded with water 70-80 centimetres high, blocking tram tracks, the National Directorate General for Disaster Management warned on its website.

Budapest, 2023. június 7. Az összegyûlt esõvíz elvezetésén dolgoznak a tûzoltók a Könyves Kálmán körút és a Kõbányai út keresztezõdése közelében lévõ vasúti felüljáró alatt 2023. június 7-én. MTI/Mihádák Zoltán Fotó: Mihádák Zoltán

Firefighters in Zuglo pulled out a car trapped in the water. Vehicles are allowed to proceed only in the northern direction.

A tree from the area of the Peterfy Sandor Street hospital fell on the road and crushed a car. Firefighters used chainsaws to remove the fallen tree, the authority wrote on its website. 

Photo: MTI/Zoltan Mihadak

In Zuglo, Budapest's 14th district, the basements of buildings were flooded in several streets, and Remeny Street was blocked by a fallen tree.

Heavy rainfall has caused considerable damage across Hungary, as firefighter crews kept pumping water out of flooded basements, garages and backyards, and removing fallen trees and branches blocking roads.

In Jaszbereny, Szolnok County, many alerts were received of water flooding basements and breaking into houses as the drainage system and ditches became overwhelmed. In Szajol, Szolnok County, the water was knee-high in the boiler room of one house, and the electricity supply was cut off.

In Pilisvorosvar, close to Budapest, a road had to be closed after a stream overflowed. In Karad, Somogy County, water was half a metre high in the yard of a house, and fifty hens kept in an area enclosed by fence perished by the time firefighters arrived.

Cover photo: firefighters working to drain accumulated rainwater under a railway overpass near Budapest's Konyves Kalman Boulevard and Kobanyai Road on 7 June 2023. (Photo: MTI/Zoltan Mihadak)