At least eight people have died after Storm Boris swept through central and eastern Europe, unleashing some of the worst flooding the region has experienced in nearly 30 years, according to reports from Reuters.
The storm, which struck on Sunday, has caused widespread devastation, submerging homes, inundating roadways, and disrupting power and water supplies across multiple countries. Emergency services have been stretched to their limits as they work to rescue stranded residents and manage the floodwaters.
Authorities in affected areas have issued evacuation orders for at-risk communities, warning of continued rain and potential landslides as the aftermath of Storm Boris lingers. Meteorologists predict more rainfall in the coming days, raising further fatalities and damage concerns.
Countries including Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary have been particularly hard-hit, with riverbanks overflowing and small towns cut off from essential services.
The death toll is expected to rise as search and rescue efforts continue in the hardest-hit areas.
Storm Boris is the latest in a series of extreme weather events that have battered Europe this year, further underscoring concerns over climate change and its growing impact on weather patterns. In particular, the central and eastern parts of the continent have been vulnerable to sudden storms and flash floods.
Local governments and international agencies are mobilising relief efforts to assist those affected by the disaster.
Norway aims only to sell zero-emissions cars by next year
Electric cars now outnumber petrol models for the first time in oil-rich Norway, a world first that puts the country on track to eliminate fossil fuel vehicles.
On Tuesday, the Norwegian Road Federation (OFV), an industry organisation, said that of the 2.8 million private cars registered in Norway, 754,303 are all-electric, compared to 753,905 that run on petrol.
Diesel models remain the most numerous at just under one million, but their sales are falling rapidly.
“This is historic. A milestone few saw coming 10 years ago,” OFV director Oyvind Solberg Thorsen said in a statement.
“The electrification of the fleet of passenger cars is going quickly, and Norway is thereby rapidly moving towards becoming the first country in the world with a passenger car fleet dominated by electric cars,” Thorsen said.
“As far as I know, no other country in the world is in the same situation” with EVs outnumbering petrol cars, he told AFP.
Norway, paradoxically a major oil and gas producer, has set a target to sell only zero-emission vehicles by 2025, 10 years ahead of the European Union’s goal. Norway is not an EU member.
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Boosted by sales of the Tesla Model Y, all-electric vehicles made up a record 94.3 percent of new car registrations in August in Norway, a sharp contrast to EV struggles seen elsewhere in Europe.
“We’re almost there,” cheered Christina Bu, head of the Norwegian Electric Vehicle Association.
“Now the government just has to make a little extra effort in the 2025 budget bill (to be presented to parliament on October 7) and resist the temptation to raise taxes on EVs while continuing to increase those on fuel cars,” she told journalists.
Authorities have offered generous tax rebates on EVs to electrify road transport and help meet Norway’s climate commitments. This makes them competitively priced compared to highly taxed fuel, diesel, and hybrid vehicles.
Several other EV incentives—including exemptions on inner city tolls, free parking, and collective transport lanes—have also contributed to Norway’s success, although those have gradually been rolled back over the years.
Norway has come a long way in 20 years: in September 2004, OFV noted that the country’s car fleet consisted of 1.6 million petrol cars, around 230,000 diesel cars, and just 1,000 EVs .
The transition to EVs has played a big role in Norway’s efforts to meet its climate commitments, which include a 55-percent reduction in greenhouse gases by 2030 from 1990 levels. But it is not enough.
According to official statistics, in 2023, emissions shrank by 4.7 percent from the previous year, but the decline compared to 1990 was just 9.1 percent.
Electric cars are considered even more climate-friendly in Norway, where almost all electricity is generated by hydropower.
This success story contrasts sharply with the situation in the rest of Europe, where sales of EVs are slumping as hybrid models prove more popular.
Electric car sales began falling at the end of 2023 and account for just 12.5 per cent of new cars sold on the continent since the start of the year, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA).
According to the think tank Transport & Environment (T&E), their market share is expected to increase sharply in 2025 to between 20 and 24 per cent of new car registrations.
Some doubt the EU’s ability to ban fuel and diesel cars by 2035 completely.
According to industry group Mobility Sweden, sales of new EVs in Norway’s neighbour and EU member Sweden have decreased this year for the first time, likely due to a government decision to remove a rebate on EV purchases.
