Flash floods
triggered by days of heavy rain have killed at least four people, forced
mass evacuations and cut off power to thousands in central Europe and
weather forecasts offered no hope of respite in coming days.
In southern Poland, one woman in her 60s and
a 45-year-old man perished on Monday in separate incidents after being
washed away by flood waters, officials and local media reported.
The Polish interior ministry said it
expected to evacuate up to 2,000 people from their homes as floods
submerged fields, roads and some railway lines.
A 69-year-old woman also died on Monday in
the neighboring Czech Republic where hundreds had to be evacuated,
including 90 from a hospital in the town of Bohumin, Czech media
reported.
More than 10,000
customers of Czech CEZ were left without power after trees fell on power
lines in strong winds, and five railway lines and about 50 roads were
shut. Parts of southern Poland also suffered power cuts.
More than 2,000
people were forced from their homes in northern Hungary as heavy weekend
rains blocked off villages and cut power supplies. One man was killed
there on Sunday after an earth wall collapsed onto a house.
In Hungary's third-biggest city of Miskolc,
the mayor imposed emergency tap water restrictions and residents were
building makeshift dams using logs, rocks and debris.
"It's hard to predict when the situation
will normalize because of the weather. We have not seen such floods in
the valleys of the (rivers) Sajo and Hernad since 1974," said Csaba
Csont, a spokesman for the water management authority in northern
Hungary.
In Slovakia, the
government deployed troops alongside emergency services in the worst
affected areas in the east and northwest of the country.