Did the Czech government refuse to help citizens with financial relief for the 2024 floods, while providing funds to aid Ukraine instead? No, that's not true: The Czech government allocated and used funds worth billions of koruna from the 2024 and 2025 state budgets to assist people affected by the severe floods that hit the country in September 2024. Extensive relief efforts were undertaken, including evacuation, provision of essential supplies, psycho-social support, and infrastructure repair.
The claim appeared in a video (archived here) published on TikTok on April 28, 2025. The picture shows the Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala and the Minister of Interior Affairs Vit Rakusan, visiting the region hit by floods in 2024, as shown on the Czech state television channel. The text overlay reads in Czech, translated by Lead Stories staff:
The government shoveled our 232 billion koruna to Ukraine. A lot of money. The Czechs did not get anything after the floods. They took a picture and left. Floods - zero to the Czechs. In Moravia, they refused to pay out flood relief worth 468 million of koruna. People, we cannot let this go, or are we Czechs not considered human anymore?
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Mon May 5 11:34:03 2025 UTC)
The statement that the Czech government has not provided financial relief to the people hit by floods (archived here) in autumn 2024 is false.
The Czech government earmarked 30 billion koruna from the 2024 state budget and 10 billion koruna from the 2025 state budget for flood relief, a spokesman for the Czech Finance Ministry, Stefan Fous (archived here), said in an email to Lead Stories on May 6, 2025. In 2024, 15 billion koruna from that sum was used via different programs for flood relief. The final amount that will be used from allocated funds in 2025 will be clear at the end of this year, Fous also wrote in the email.
These funds are part of a broader government response to the severe floods in September 2024, which included immediate relief, reconstruction, and support for affected individuals and businesses (archived here). The government has implemented multiple aid programs, such as interest-free loans and grants for small and medium-sized enterprises, coordinated by the National Development Bank in cooperation with various ministries. Municipalities and regions have also received subsidies (archived here) to restore damaged infrastructure such as bridges, roads, and public spaces.
The Finance Ministry also created a special section (archived here) on its website providing information on flood relief programs and how to apply for them. More information about specific subsidies can also be found on other ministries' websites (archived here).
The text used in the above TikTok video also refers to the complaint from Josef Belica (archived here), the governor of the Moravian-Silesian region - of the opposition ANO party - which was published on his social media account (see screenshot below) on April 22, 2025.
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Tue May 13 11:34:03 2025 UTC)
In the post, Belica said that the Finance Ministry refused to refund an additional 468 million koruna for flood damage as requested by the region because of state budget deficit expenditures. The ministry did reject the refund request, citing budgetary constraints; the dispute likely occurred against the backdrop of the upcoming general elections, scheduled for autumn 2025, and the political rivalry between the ruling government and the opposition party.
According to the Finance Ministry spokesman Fous, immediately after the floods, the Moravian-Silesian region received a targeted subsidy from the state budget´s crisis reserve of 640 million CZK (80 million CZK at the beginning of October + 560 million CZK in November 2024) to cover the initial flood damages. The region used the amount almost entirely and returned 1.2 million CZK to the state budget this year. Fous also stated in his email to Lead Stories that the Moravian-Silesian region had account balances of 14 billion CZK; therefore, according to the Ministry of Finance, it has sufficient available funds to cover any additional expenses from its reserves. Moreover, the region can also draw state finances from other subsidy systems as announced by individual ministries (archived here), Fous also added.
The figure of 232 billion koruna of Czech aid for Ukraine mentioned in the TikTok video likely refers to a social media post (archived here) by Czech economist Lukas Kovanda from February 2025, based on the Kiel Institute for the World Economy's (archived here) calculations. Kovanda pointed out at the time that the Czech Republic is one of the biggest donors to Ukraine and thus should be invited to the talks about the country´s future.
