Following the devastating floods in September, the Czech army is continuing its relief efforts in Moravia. With around 400 soldiers and heavy equipment, it is building temporary bridges and clearing roads to support the badly affected villages and restore the infrastructure.
A total of 400 soldiers with more than 150 pieces of heavy military equipment are currently deployed in the Olomouc and Moravian-Silesian regions to help clear the consequences of the September floods. The aid workers are building temporary bridges and footbridges to make the roads in the worst-affected villages passable again. By Friday 25 October, twelve of these bridges had been built. The army will build five to six more temporary bridges and three footbridges in November.
On Wednesday, 23 October, the Czech government decided by decree to extend the deployment of the army to repair the flood damage in both regions with up to 1,000 soldiers until the end of November 2024. The specific deployment location of the soldiers will depend on the needs and wishes of the regional governors (Hejtman) and the operational centres of the Czech Fire Service Corps.
Soldiers from the 15th Pioneer Regiment and subordinate battalions are helping to clear streets and houses and, above all, remove rubble in the Olomouc region. In the Moravian-Silesian Region, soldiers from the ground forces, in particular the 7th Mechanised Brigade and the 4th Rapid Deployment Brigade, the Air Force and also the University of Defence in Brno are helping.
‘On the basis of applications submitted via the National Operations and Information Centre of the Fire Service of the Czech Republic, we have to build a total of 18 bridges and three footbridges. So we’re halfway there, and the number of additional bridges or footbridges may still change. It all depends on the decision of the mayors of the municipalities concerned,’ explains Colonel Pavel Maňas from the University of Defence, who heads a team of surveyors and engineers preparing the project documentation for the municipalities and engineers.
So far, the engineers have built temporary bridges in the Moravian-Silesian Region in the villages of Nové Heřmínovy, Hoštálkovy and Zátor, as well as two bridges in Holcovice. The construction of another bridge and two footbridges is planned. In the Olomouc region, the soldiers have already built bridges in Lipová-lázně, Tomíkovice, Hvízdnerov and two bridges in Česká Ves. The soldiers are planning to build a total of five more bridges here.
