Central Europe Prepares for more Floods
25/08/2005| IslamWeb
Much of central Europe is bracing for further flash floods with more torrential rain forecast.
In Romania, 25 people have died and thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes over the last week.
The country has been hit hard by floods since April. Mudslides have blocked roads and railway tracks while some bridges have been swept away by the force of floodwaters.
The situation is the same in Austria where the death toll has risen to three. A fourth person has been reported missing feared drowned.
Parts of the skiing resort Klosters, which hosts Britain's Prince Charles for holidays each year, were still under water as rescue workers started clearing car wrecks and mud from the streets, pumping water out of the worst-hit houses.
In the Swiss capital, Berne, residents waved for help from balconies while others used their mobile phones to call rescuers, where police said water levels were rising.
In Lucerne, at the foot of some of Switzerland's highest mountains, the water was just centimetres below a historic high by midday, coming menacingly close to engulfing its famous 14th century wooden bridge.
Driving rain has also swept across the Balkans for most of the summer, causing hundreds of millions of euros of damage to roads, bridges, railways and crops.
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