Death toll could rise further as floods cause chaos in Central Europe

A search is underway for four people missing in the Czech Republic after floods continued to wreak havoc across Central and Eastern Europe.

Heavy rainfall brought flooding to countries including Austria, Poland and Romania with more expected to follow this week. Six people died in Romania, one in Austria and another in Poland.

Authorities in the Czech Republic said much of the country was affected with flood warnings at around 100 places but the situation was worst in the northeast of the country near the Polish border which has seen the most rainfall.

At least four people remain missing - three in a car which disappeared into a river in North Moravia, and one man who was swept into a flooded stream in South Moravia.

In the city of Opava, up to 10,000 people out of a population of around 56,000 have been asked to move to higher ground. Rescuers used boats to transport people to safety in a neighbourhood flooded by the raging Opava River.

“We have to focus on saving lives," Prime Minister Petr Fiala told Czech television on Sunday. His government was set to meet to assess the damage but he warned the worst "is not behind us yet".

Thousands of people were evacuated in the towns of Krnov, which was almost completely flooded, and Cesky Tesin. The Oder River that flows to Poland was reaching extreme levels in the city of Ostrava and in Bohumin, prompting evacuations.

Towns and villages in the Jeseniky mountains, including the local centre of Jesenik, were inundated and isolated by raging waters that turned roads into rivers.

Jesenik Mayor Zdenka Blistanova said several houses in her and other nearby towns have been destroyed by the floods and bridges and roads have been badly damaged, with more than quarter of a million homes left without power.

A firefighter died in Austria after “slipping on stairs” while pumping out a flooded basement in the town of Tulln, the head of the fire department of Lower Austria, Dietmar Fahrafellner, told reporters on Sunday.

Authorities declared the entire state of Lower Austria in the northeastern part of the country a disaster zone with 1,100 homes evacuated and emergency personnel setting up accommodation for residents who had to flee their homes.

The municipality of Lilienfeld with about 25,000 residents is cut off from the outside world and residents were told to boil tap water as a precaution.

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said the situation "continues to worsen” and added 2,400 soldiers were ready to support the relief effort.

About 1,000 of them will deploy to the disaster zone in Lower Austria, where dams are beginning to burst.

"We are experiencing difficult and dramatic hours in Lower Austria. For many people in Lower Austria these will probably be the most difficult hours of their lives," said Johanna Mikl-Leitner, the governor of Lower Austria.

In Vienna, the Wien River overflowed its banks, flooding homes and forcing evacuations of nearby houses.

Romanian authorities said two people died in the hard-hit eastern county of Galati after four were reported dead there a day earlier, following unprecedented rain.

In Poland, one person was presumed dead, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said.

He said the situation was "dramatic" around the town of Klodzko, with about 25,000 residents, located in a valley in the Sudetes mountains near the border with the Czech Republic.

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