Two more people died in flash floods in Poland and one in Slovakia today, bringing the death toll in central Europe to seven, as several days of heavy rains hit the region.
Poland's interior ministry said a fireman was among the deaths recorded today in southern Poland, which was worst hit by flooding.
"If we have to declare the state of emergency then it will only be on some part of the country, not the whole of Poland, and definitely not for a long time," Poland's acting president Bronislaw Komorowski told reporters.
Prime minister Donald Tusk and his internal affairs minister had been touring four districts where a total of 2,000 people were evacuated from their homes, with more likely to follow.
The former Nazi concentration camp of Auschwitz in southern Poland was closed to visitors and some of the exhibitions were moved as water levels were rising on a river just outside the camp's fence.
In Poland's former capital, the southern city of Krakow, authorities were considering closing bridges over the Vistula river.
The rising waters were posing a threat to Krakow's Wawel castle, the ancient seat of the Polish kings, media reported.
In neighbouring Slovakia a 62-year-old man drowned today. The Slovak interior minister has travelled to the eastern parts of the country as Bratislava decided to deploy the army to help its citizens.
Slovak officials said the situation was likely to improve on Thursday, but Poland's meteorology institute said heavy rains would continue over coming days.
In the Czech Republic more people were being forced from their homes today, but there were no more deaths reported in the country after a 69-year-old woman died yesterday. Power cuts also occurred in several towns in the country.
Reuters