By Luiza Ilie and Jason Hovet
BUCHAREST/PRAGUE (Reuters) -At least four people died and thousands of homes were damaged by flooding in eastern Romania on Saturday, officials said, as surging river levels put authorities on alert in much of central and eastern Europe following days of torrential rain.
More rainfall is forecast in the coming days in the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, southern Germany and parts of Austria, leading officials in some high-risk areas to implement emergency flood preparations.
Residents of some towns along the Czech-Polish border were evacuated as rivers rose past alert levels while the Czech capital, Prague, which suffered catastrophic floods in 2002, put preventative anti-flood measures in place.
In Romania, flooding affected eight counties, the country’s emergency response unit said, and Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu was due to visit hard-hit Galati county, where the four people were found dead and about 5,000 homes were damaged.
The Environment Ministry’s water management agency said rainfall of more than 150 litres per square metre had fallen in the area in less than 24 hours.
Television images from the area showed streets flooded with muddy water, silt and debris as rescuers led residents to safety. Authorities deployed a Black Hawk helicopter to aid the search and rescue operation.
EVACUATIONS, RAIL DISRUPTION
In the Czech Republic, northern and northeastern parts of the country were bearing the brunt of the deluge, with some places recording up to 250 mm (9.8 inches) of rain since Thursday, the weather institute said.
Forecasters warned that some areas could see more than a third of average annual rainfall by Sunday, with strong winds further complicating the situation.
Environment Minister Petr Hladik said on Saturday people in the worst-hit areas should prepare to leave their homes.
In Prague, a city of more than 1.3 million people that sits on the banks of the Vltava river spanned by the picturesque 14th century Charles Bridge, flood barriers were put in place.
The city heavily invested into preventive measures after the 2002 floods, which swept into the subway system and forced tens of thousands of people to be evacuated from their homes.
Prague Zoo, which is located along the Vltava, was closed to visitors and Czech Railways said services on dozens of routes was disrupted. In the country’s second-biggest city, Brno, a hospital evacuated patients as a precaution.
In Glucholazy, a historic town in southwestern Poland near the Czech border, firefighters piled hundreds of sandbags alongside a swollen river and some residents were evacuated from their homes.
Polish Interior Minister Tomasz Siemoniak said weather forecasts looked unfavourable, with as much as 100-150 litres of rainfall per square metre projected to fall around the Czech-Polish border during the next 24 hours, feeding rivers into Poland.
Officials in neighbouring Slovakia warned of the danger of possible flooding in the capital, Bratislava, from the swollen Danube river.
Hungary expects the Danube to near record-high levels in the coming days, and officials will close lower-lying quays in the capital, Budapest, on Monday.
“The wave of flooding is expected to peak around 8 metres (26 feet) in the second half of next week,” the capital’s mayor said on Friday.
