Storms kill two in Romania and Austria, cause flooding

Storms swept through Romania and Austria overnight into Wednesday, causing significant damage. In Romania, including the capital Bucharest, basements and homes flooded, and trees were uprooted. Rescue services shared videos showing branches being cleared from cars and people wading through waist-deep water. Near Bucharest, a man was found dead inside a car that had been crushed by a fallen tree, according to rescuers.

Austria has also been hit by severe storms since Sunday. The Tyrol province saw landslides, and in the Perg district of Upper Austria on Tuesday, a man died after being struck by a falling branch. The 26-year-old was riding an all-terrain vehicle with his partner when a branch from a roadside tree broke and hit him.

The extreme weather followed more than a week of intense heat across Europe, which saw temperature records broken. Experts attribute the increasing frequency and intensity of extreme weather events to climate change, driven by greenhouse gas emissions from human activities.