Central Europe factories and retailers shut in flood-hit areas
By Jan Lopatka
PRAGUE, Sept 16 (Reuters) -Factories and stores across central Europe shuttered production lines and closed their doors on Monday due to flooding that has killed at least 10 people, forced tens of thousands of evacuations and submerged towns from Poland to Romania.
In Ostrava - an industrial city of 290,000 people in northeast Czech Republic - BorsodChem chemical plant has been shut, a spokesperson for the company, partially owned by China's Wanhua Chemical Group 600309.SS, said.
Coking plant OKK Koksovny - one of the largest producers of foundry coke in Europe - has stopped chemicals production but was continuing to keep coking batteries at minimum levels, spokesman Jindrich Vanek told Reuters.
"There is water that has started rising and there must be a breach of the flood barriers," he said. "We are without electricity and we are heating our batteries with coking gas, keeping them at technological minimum."
Border areas between the Czech Republic and Poland were hit hard over the weekend, following days of heavy rain. Some bridges collapsed and homes were destroyed, while villages and towns in eastern Romania were submerged.
While rivers in the Czech-Polish border area were starting to recede on Monday, flooding was widening to more areas and leaving bigger cities in both countries on alert.
Veolia Energie has shut its Trebovice electricity and heating plant, which has cut hot water and heating supplies to large parts of Ostrava following flood damage, the company said in a statement.
"At the moment, the supply of heat and hot water in Ostrava is interrupted," the company said. "The key technologies remained undamaged and therefore if the situation develops favourably we estimate the restoration of supplies in a few days."
Polish retailer Zabka said around 80 outlets were currently closed, mainly in the area around the southwest town of Klodzko. The shops were closed due to flooding, lack of electricity or evacuation ordered by the emergency services, its press service told Reuters via email on Monday.
The retailer, owned by private equity fund CVC Capital Partners, added that it had provided water, provisions and transport support to its franchisees and was gathering information on their needs.
Writing by Michael Kahn, Reporting by Tymon Miller and Michal Aleksandrowicz in Gdansk and Jan Lopatka in Prague, Editing by Alex Richardson
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