Storm kills one in Romania after heat wave, floods Bucharest

A violent storm tore through Bucharest and 20 counties in Romania on Wednesday, killing one person in Ilfov County after a tree fell on a vehicle and flooding parts of the capital as emergency crews fielded nearly 2,000 calls for help. The damage followed two days of extreme heat that pushed temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius in parts of the country and left the power system under strain.

Bucharest firefighters responded to about 1,500 emergencies overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday, and emergency services pumped water from more than 350 houses and 100 streets. Several metro stations and underpasses in the capital were flooded, while dozens of homes and vehicles were damaged as wind and rain swept through densely built neighborhoods.

Outside Bucharest, the storm hit 60 localities across 20 counties, including Alba, Bihor, Călăraşi, Hunedoara, Ilfov, Sibiu and Tulcea. Police and firefighters moved through the affected counties to evacuate flooded homes, clear debris and keep roads open as the storm system continued across the region.

The Romanian National Meteorological Administration had already placed most of the country under weather warnings for heat, severe storms and hail through July 3. Earlier in the week, almost all of Romania was under a red heat warning, with temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius on Monday. That heat pushed electricity consumption higher and raised prices before the storm arrived, turning the episode into a fast-moving test of energy, transport and emergency systems at the same time.

The sequence exposed how quickly separate extremes can merge into one crisis: scorching heat that strains grids, then sudden flooding and wind damage that overwhelms drainage systems, streets and transit lines. In Bucharest, the flooded stations and underpasses showed how vulnerable urban infrastructure becomes when intense weather arrives with little pause. Across Romania, the storm left a clear measure of its reach, with one death, thousands of emergency calls and damage spread across towns, villages and the capital in a single night.