The Balkans have two more days to hold out before the Danube flood waters start to subside - and so far protection measures introduced by the authorities look to have prevented the worst.
The Danube has been flowing at its fastest for more than a century, but selective flooding of unpopulated farmland areas has helped spare most residential areas.

One man died in Serbia on Friday when a village flooded to rooftop level, but Romania's decision to flood some 90 000 hectares of fertile soil north of the Danube has eased the pressure, and there's been no repeat of the scenes of panic caused by last summer's flash floods in the region which left more than forty people dead.

Water levels are now stabilising in many areas and are expected to start going down from Tuesday of next week.

Romanian authorities have expressed satisfaction with the way the flood control operation is going, though with tens of thousands still at risk, they remain in a state of high alert.

PHOTO CAPTION

People use a boat to travel on the flooded streets in town of Nikopol some 200 kilometers (125 miles) northeast of the capital Sofia Monday, April 17, 2006. (AP)