Flooding in Central Europe

As the rain came down, the snow melted rapidly, which exacerbated the problems.

Levees burst and rivers overflowed, inundating towns and cities.

Eastern Germany was badly hit. The village of Halle was just one of a number of locations that saw streets submerged. Thousands of residents were urged to evacuate.

Germany isn(***)t alone in seeing the flooding. Just across the border, the Czech Republic is also suffering.

Nineteen-thousand people were evacuated from their homes in the Czech Republic as the waters rose.

At least 12 people are known to have died in the flooding, with four more still missing.

In many places, even protective barriers were unable to stop the surge of water.

Two of the most affected rivers were the Elbe and the Danube.

All the flooding in the rivers now has to flow downstream to reach the sea.

The Danube flows through Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia, Romania and Bulgaria before reaching the Black Sea.

Don''t ask for a room on the ground floor

The countries that lie further downstream are now on high alert.

Slovakia knew the flooding was coming. Protection walls were put up to try to reduce the problems.

Despite the preparations, large parts of the western suburbs of the Slovakian capital, Bratislava, were submerged on Wednesday.

The flooding is expected to inundate parts of Hungary in the next few days as it continues to race towards the sea.