Many villages in southern Poland were badly hit by the recent floods. Now, residents are cleaning up. Will this latest disaster lead to comprehensive change?
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00:00After the flood, there's debris everywhere.
00:04Sodden furniture is strewn all about.
00:07This was the biggest flood in the history of the small upper Silesian town of Wuhoazi.
00:12The streets are thick with mud.
00:14Days after the disaster, gas and power are still out.
00:18Soldiers are hard at work, and residents help wherever they can.
00:25Thank you so much.
00:28Many have been left devastated.
00:33It's a terrible tragedy affecting everyone here.
00:38My son, who's been self-employed for 20 years, had everything flooded, and we live from his business.
00:47Krystyna is relieved that her son Tomasz is even talking again.
00:51He was in total shock after the floods and didn't speak for three days.
00:56Wuhoazi, with its 14,000 residents, lies on a river that burst its banks following days of rainfall.
01:04Surging water swept through the town, even destroying bridges.
01:08Tomasz Jankowi is a leather upholsterer.
01:11He shows us his workshop, or rather, what's left of it.
01:17The water came up to here.
01:22Up to here.
01:25Everything in here, hundreds of pieces of leather.
01:30All that costs money.
01:35Now I have to throw it all away.
01:43Over the past few years, Tomasz has invested thousands of euros in his workshop.
01:49He's torn about what to do next.
01:51He's considered throwing in the towel, but he really loves his work.
01:58Look at these machines, all computerized.
02:01I had embroidery machines.
02:03I'm an upholsterer, and I'm all about quality.
02:06I take on all sorts of projects.
02:08People know when it comes to leather, Tomasz can do it.
02:12Now it's all ruined.
02:18The situation is similar next door.
02:23Baba Chabukcik escaped the floods at her neighbor's, who lives on the second floor.
02:31When the floodwater receded, I returned to my apartment.
02:34The corner sofa was afloat, the furniture, the fridge, all the furnishings.
02:39The water came right up to here.
02:42When it receded, there was mud everywhere.
02:44Now they're throwing everything out so the apartment can dry.
02:49This wasn't the town's first flood, but the severity was unprecedented.
02:54An increasing reality in the age of human-driven climate change.
02:58But Tomasz doesn't believe that's the reason.
03:02The world is warming naturally.
03:04It's a cycle the Earth's going through.
03:06The whole politics of environmentalists around global warming is all made up.
03:13People are talking about the causes of the disaster around town,
03:18including at the soup kitchen on the market square.
03:26It has to do with deforestation in Poland and the Czech Republic.
03:33There are no trees to hold this water.
03:37These huge clouds are full of water.
03:39And when it comes down, it ends up in our mountain rivers,
03:42not in some river in the lowlands, where the water level only rises slowly.
03:47Many in Wuhoazi are afraid of what the future holds,
03:50but Tomasz Jankowi intends to carry on.
03:53The Polish state has promised financial help, which has motivated him.
03:59I don't give up. I like doing my job, and I'm good at it, like a factory.
04:05Tomasz hangs up pieces of leather that he thinks he might be able to salvage.
04:10He hopes the worst is over for now, and that his village might be spared next time.