“No casualties,” emergency services reported after the night storm that covered western and central Slovakia. The bad weather lasted all night and morning on August 20, 2026, causing damage, especially in Bratislava and Zvolen.
Consequences of the disaster: Bratislava and Zvolen
In Bratislava, according to insurers at 8:00 a.m. on August 20, 2026, trees fell on 287 cars. Several people were in the cars during the falls, but there were no serious injuries. The most affected districts were Petržalka and Vrakuňa.
In the city of Zvolen, lightning struck a residential building — a fire broke out, and residents had to be evacuated.
Transport collapse and recovery work
Because of the storm in Bratislava, streets were flooded and trolleybus and tram contact networks were broken. Public transport operated with interruptions. The city authorities said that despite this, the capital coped with the bad weather and there was no large-scale transport collapse.
Bratislava Airport operated “according to actual weather” — that is, during the peak of the storm it was closed. This caused many hours of flight delays. Several planes, for example from Košice, could not land in Bratislava — they were redirected to Budapest. Vienna Airport (Schwechat) also did not accept planes because the bad weather affected Austria as well.
Energy workers reported that after the storm that happened in the evening of August 20, 2026, there were massive power outages in western Slovakia. According to the energy company Západoslovenská distribučná, more than 400 faults were recorded, and by the morning of August 21 about 8600 households remained without electricity.
What to do if you lost your license plate?
When the water on the streets of Bratislava receded, the police began collecting car license plates (ŠPZ) that were washed off cars. If you lost your ŠPZ (license plate) in the capital, contact the address Námestie Hraničiarov 1613/1 in Bratislava.
Emergency services and repair workers worked all night and morning to eliminate the consequences of the storm.
Read more about how public transport works in Slovakia in our guide about transport.
