Flooding in Central Europe

PRAGUE, 31 March, 2006 (AFP) - Large swathes of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania and the German region of Saxony remained on flood alert Friday as the death toll from swollen rivers rose and more people were evacuated from their homes.
In Romania, a child was carried away by a raging river in the region of Suceava, in the north of the country, and his grandfather almost perished in the torrent trying to save him, local authorities said on Friday.
A 13 year old junior canoeing champion was still missing, two days after his boat capsized during a violent storm, police in the western town of Deva said.
At least four people, including two children, have already perished in the floods and two were misssing in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
The River Elbe on both sides of the Czech-German border continued to be the main focus for concern as the river rose to critical levels late on Friday.
Local authorities in Dresden, Germany, warned they might be forced to evacuate 1,000 people from their homes in Saxony's main city on Saturday after the river rose above the seven-meter (23-foot) mark, more than three times its normal level.
Upstream, at Bad-Schandau, around 150 people were forced to leave their homes on Friday.
In the Czech Republic, a further 120 people were evacuated in the city of Usti Nad Labem, in addition to about 300 people who were cleared from their homes near the river embankment on Thursday and 150 who had to leave their homes around 20 kilometres upstream near Litomerice.
The situation was stable in the two worst-hit Czech regions -- south Moravia and south Bohemia. Around 2,000 people already had been evacuated from the south Moravian town of Znojmo and its surroundings on Wednesday and Thursday.
But the Czech hydrometeorological office late on Friday extended its nationwide flood warning to Monday evening as rain began to fall across the country. More showers and storms are predicted for the weekend together with a warmer spell which could thaw the remaining snow and further swell rivers.
In Slovakia firemen warned that levels of the Morava and Danube rivers will have to be monitored closely. The Slovak interior ministry said Friday that 140 towns and villages, in addition to 1,300 hectares, have been affected thus far, and that river levels were still rising in the east. Around 400 people -- 350 in Brodske, on the banks of the Morava -- have been evacuated thus far.
Czech Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek cut short a visit to Egypt and sought to reassure his countrymen, scarred by the catastrophic floods of 2002 and 1997. "At the moment there is no call for serious concern," he said after a special Cabinet meeting Thursday night. In Prague, a level-two flood alert remained in place Friday in spite of a slow rise in the level of the Vltava which had already overflowed some embankments. Level-three is the highest level alert.
The Romanian Ministry of Environment announced a flood alert in 19 of the country's 41 administrative regions with heavy rainfall predicted over the next days. Dozens of hectares of agricultural land are already under water with strong winds damaging roofs and power lines across the country.