Over 1,000 scouts evacuated from Polish camps ahead of heavy rainfall

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — More than 1,000 scouts and counselors in summer camps in central Poland were evacuated ahead of heavy rainfall on Wednesday, local media reported.

TVP state television said 16 camps, where the scouts had been staying in tents outside the capital city of Warsaw, were evacuated on Tuesday. The Polish scouts and staff were moved indoors, it added.

Deputy Minister of Education Katarzyna Lubnauer told TVP that camp officials must be careful in the face of such storms. She recalled a 2017 tragedy when two girls, aged 13 and 14, were killed by falling trees while trying to shelter in their camp tent during a severe storm.

Heavy downpours slammed the provinces of Masovia, Świętokrzyskie, and Łódź on Wednesday. Firefighters were repeatedly called out to respond to downed trees and flooding, TVP reported.

The evacuations came days after catastrophic flooding in Texas killed more than two dozen people at Camp Mystic, an all-girls Christian summer camp. Most of the victims were children.