EUROPE: At least 72 people have died across Europe as floods swept away Russian tourists, triggered landslides in Germany and Switzerland and shut down shipping on the River Danube in Austria.
Russia was the hardest-hit with at least 58 deaths. Giant cranes hoisted ruined cars and other debris out of the Black Sea yesterday as workers scoured the coastline for more bodies.
Thousands of Russians holidaying on the Black Sea coast were caught in the floods. Many remain stranded, their cars swept out to sea by a wall of water that rushed down the mountains. Around 4,000 tourists were still trapped in Shirokaya Balka.
An investigative team was examining all the deaths for possible criminal charges, as some buildings were in areas where development is prohibited due to erosion and flooding concerns.
After more than a week of flooding in Austria, in Salzburg province a firefighter was swept away by a river in Mariapfarr and a man's body was found in a flooded cellar in Hallein. Houses collapsed and railway tracks were washed-out.
In Germany the authorities in Thuringia state issued a flood alert for the Pleisse River which broke its banks. Firefighters stacked 30,000 sandbags to protect houses and soldiers helped to reinforce riverbanks in critical areas.
In northern Germany a train derailed near Hamburg after running into a mudslide caused by the rain. No one was injured.
In the Czech Republic thousands of people fled their homes yesterday after numerous rivers burst their banks. In Radotin west of Prague a 55-year-old man drowned in the swollen Vltava River, raising the death toll in that country to seven.
Authorities feared the Vltava could flood some areas of Prague, including Kampa Island, famed for its architecture, and a zoo on the outskirts of the city. A Prague hospital in the flood zone evacuated about 100 patients and books and documents were moved to higher floors in the National Library and the Czech Senate.
In eastern Switzerland torrential rains caused a series of small landslides - one cut off a rail line between Chur and Arosa, another on Griesalp Mountain swept away a bridge, stranding more than 150 people until an emergency span could be put in place.
Austrian authorities used helicopters to rescue people from roofs in Linz. All shipping on the River Danube was halted as water levels neared 100-year highs. In Salzburg, Mozart's birthplace, the sightseeing boat Amadeus sank yesterday after being swamped in the Salzach River.
- (AP)