At least 90 people are believed dead and thousands more homeless as central Europe sank further under water last night.
In Prague, capital of the Czech Republic, thousands of residents fled their homes after the mayor warned that despite the worst flooding in half a century, the worst was yet to come.
Many Austrian cities including Salzburg were declared disaster zones, while in Germany, dozens of people are missing, believed drowned, after being washed away by cascading floods of mud and water.
The Czech government yesterday declared a state of emergency in five regions after a week of heavy rainfall, which has so far claimed seven victims. Heavy rain yesterday afternoon overwhelmed dams on the river Vltava flowing through Prague, flooding the historic city centre.
Rescue workers and civilians worked through the night side by side, filling sandbags and laying them in three-metre walls along the path of the rising water to protect the city's most historic buildings in low-lying neighbourhoods.
"We are calling on all citizens, especially motorists, to get into their cars and drive away from [these areas]," said Mr Igor Nemec, the mayor of Prague.
He instructed soldiers to use reasonable force to remove thousands of people, who chose to stay at home, should the danger increase.
The Vltava river was flowing at 30 times its usual capacity through Prague yesterday in scenes not seen since a flood in 1890 which swept away sections of the 14th-century Charles Bridge. The bridge, normally full of summer tourists and buskers at this time of year, was deserted yesterday.
Authorities fear that the swirling river waters will undermine the structure's already insecure foundations.
The remaining tourists in Prague stood in wonder yesterday along the river banks watching the spectacle. "It's incredible, isn't it? A natural disaster is happening right before our eyes," said Ms Laurie Delgudice, from New Jersey, who was visiting the Czech capital.
In Germany and Austria, the normally calm River Danube had turned into a roaring torrent. Authorities have closed the river to traffic and predict water levels will rise to 10 metres or more this morning.
Residents in the western town of Ybbs on the Danube woke yesterday to find the river flowing through their streets. Hundreds were stranded in their homes as the water levels continued to rise to the second floor of most buildings.
At least three people have died in flooding in Austria and others including a firefighter are missing after being swept away by flood waters.
Salzburg was a disaster area yesterday with more than 1,000 buildings underwater. More rain has fallen on the birthplace of Mozart in three days than is usual in three months.
"Upper Austria is an image of misery now, a flourishing land submerged in water," said Mr Josef Puehringer, the local governor.
More than 8,000 soldiers worked along the banks of the Danube in northern Austria, using helicopters to rescue people in deserted areas.
The Danube rose to 11 metres in Passau on the Bavarian border with Austria on Monday. City streets were completely submerged but water levels began subsiding yesterday as meteorologists said the worst was over.
"We are very lucky as there have been no reports of anyone getting hurt," said Mr Wolfgang Stengel of the Bavarian emergency services. One weather station recorded more than 300 litres of rainfall per square metre, causing swollen rivers to burst their banks.
The normally bustling streets of Glashütte in Saxony were filled with a roaring torrent of muddy water yesterday after a nearby dam burst. The only cars to be seen were the driverless ones being dragged along by the churning flood water.
There were similar scenes in central Dresden yesterday, as the River Elbe continued to rise to an expected eight metres this morning in the worst flooding in half a century.
More than 2,000 rescue workers worked through the night evacuating residents from their homes while over 500 emergency calls an hour went unanswered.
Police reported that a 68- year-old woman died of a suspected heart attack after trying to empty water from the basement of her house near Dresden. A 36- year-old man was killed and nine others injured near Jena in a three- way motorway collision between a minibus, a truck and a car.
Dozens of people remain unaccounted for.
The German government has made available over €100 million of special credit to business men, farmers and home-owners who face ruin.
In Romania three people died in a hurricane while in Bulgaria, electricity supplies were disrupted, roofs were damaged, trees torn down and harvests damaged by storms.
