Social media mobilises Poles to battle floods in historic city

By Barbara Erling and Janis Laizans

WROCLAW, Poland (Reuters) - A social media producer whose accounts would normally show people where to eat out and relax in the historic Polish city of Wroclaw has shifted his focus to showing people where they can volunteer to protect the city against flood waters.

Central Europe has been ravaged by floods that have caused billions of dollars of damage and killed at least 24 people, but Poland's third largest city has escaped the worst of the damage, in part thanks to a huge mobilisation of members of the public who have worked round the clock building walls of sandbags.

"We have changed our approach a little bit at the moment due to the fact that we actually have the biggest reach in Wroclaw now, because we are followed by almost 600,000 people on social media, Instagram and Facebook," said 35-year-old social media producer Kamil Karpinski.

Through social media profiles like Karpinski's, people offer tools, resources, transportation and their own time.

One such person is Patrycja Rozmus, a 26-year-old IT recruiter, who took a day off to help tie bags of sand under the Tarczynski Arena stadium.

"People are afraid, but you can also see that they are uniting and helping as much as they can," she said.

By the stadium dozens of people from all over the region came to fill sandbags, which are distributed among the residents, whose estates are under threat.

"We are working around the clock… There are always people willing to help," said Marcin Janiszewski, spokesperson for Tarczynski Arena Wroclaw and coordinator of flood-related activities.

The flooding, caused by torrential rains, has destroyed bridges, submerged cars and left towns across central Europe caked in mud and debris.

Visiting Wroclaw on Thursday, Ursula von der Leyen, head of the European Commission, promised 10 billion euros ($11.16 billion) of EU aid for Poland and other affected countries.

Among the volunteer workers helping to pile up sandbags in Wroclaw was Irina Szymanska, a 40-year-old estate agent from Ukraine, who has lived in the city for six years.

"We are all human beings and in a difficult situation you always have to help… I feel an international brotherhood here and it's great to work together," she said.

(Reporting by Barbara Erling; Editing by Alan Charlish and Gareth Jones)