A man was airlifted to safety in Dâmbovița County on Tuesday afternoon after being caught in a flash flood, while hail the size of walnuts pounded Prahova County, prompting orange-code weather alerts and leaving at least one hospital in Vrancea County submerged. The Romanian Interior Ministry’s SMURD helicopter plucked the man from rising waters near the town of Gura Ocniței just after 16:30 local time, Romanian emergency services confirmed .
Meteorologists at the National Weather Administration said the extreme weather was triggered by a cold front colliding with warm, moist air, producing torrential downpours, lightning, and hailstones up to 2 cm in diameter. Orange-code warnings remained in effect for Argeș, Prahova, and parts of Bucharest until 18:30 on Tuesday, with forecasters warning of an additional 15–20 litres per square metre and a continued flood risk through Wednesday morning .
In Vrancea County, the Saint Pantelimon Emergency Hospital in Focșani reported extensive damage after last weekend’s floods, with water entering the basement, laundry rooms, and parts of the operating and emergency blocks. Hospital administrators said decontamination and repairs would take weeks, forcing the relocation of non-urgent surgeries .
Across the continent, German authorities said they were treating simultaneous attacks on power infrastructure as coordinated sabotage after a fire at a substation in Reutlingen plunged parts of Baden-Württemberg into darkness overnight. Investigators found multiple ignition points and are pursuing a “deliberate act” line of inquiry, state prosecutor’s office spokeswoman Simone Herberger confirmed . Baden-Württemberg’s Green premier, Winfried Kretschmann, told reporters the suspected arsonists aimed to “destabilise critical infrastructure,” while federal police launched a nationwide manhunt .
In Constanța, the TIR driver whose vehicle ploughed into ten cars on Monday told police he suffered a sudden illness at the wheel and had no memory of the incident. Released from hospital on Tuesday morning, he was taken into custody for questioning after witnesses described erratic behaviour before the crash . Meanwhile, in northern Hungary, eight children were injured when a coach veered into a truck on the M1 motorway near Tatabánya; two were airlifted to hospital with serious injuries .
Finnish authorities reported an oil leak from a recovered car at the bottom of the Vantaa River, while in Sweden a front-end collision on the E4 near Haninge left one person trapped and required two helicopter evacuations. In the Netherlands, social housing provider Eigen Haard was ordered to provide temporary accommodation for residents after an explosion in Amsterdam’s Herculesstraat damaged 14 apartments .