Thousands of homes have been evacuated along Germany’s River Elbe after waters threatened to break through levees protecting several towns.

The swollen River Danube is approaching Budapest, where soldiers and volunteers are building flood walls, officials said.

Thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes in a region of eastern Germany where the Elbe river has flooded and burst through a dam, while a swollen Danube was approaching Budapest where soldiers and volunteers are building flood walls, officials said yesterday.

Thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes in a region of eastern Germany where the Elbe river has flooded and burst through a dam, officials said.

The crest of the flooded Danube River is expected to reach Budapest late today but defences should keep the water out of most of the capital, according to Hungarian officials.

Central Europe’s worst floods in over a decade claimed a 12th victim as torrents of muddy water surged down rivers through the Czech Republic and into Germany, flooding villages and forcing evacuations.

A raging flood wave that inundated parts of Prague is now heading north towards Germany, forcing the evacuation of thousands of people and leading to concerns about the safety of chemical plants.

Germany has dispatched thousands of soldiers to help cities and towns cope with flooding from the rain-soaked Danube and other southern rivers, a day after the Bavarian city of Passau saw its worst flooding since 1501.

PRESIDENT Dmitry Medvedev struck a conciliatory note at Russia’s Victory Day military parade yesterday, urging world powers to unite for peace and defending his decision to invite Nato troops to march on Red Square.

Floodwaters continued to threaten Czech towns and villages in the north and south-east, preventing thousands of people from returning to their homes.

Czech officials have declared a state of emergency in seven flood-hit regions while rivers continued to rise in neighbouring European countries today, forcing evacuations in some areas.

The Czech cabinet has declared a state of emergency in seven regions, allowing easier handling of the flood crisis caused by rising rivers.

RIVERS, swollen by rain and melting snow, forced hundreds of residents in the Czech Republic and Germany to flee their homes yesterday.

Czech cities struggled with floods today as rivers swollen with rain and melting snow remained high, flooding parts of several towns throughout the country.

Prague braced for flooding today and 10,000 people were evacuated from their homes in a south-eastern town as rivers, swollen by rain and melting snow, rose to dangerous levels.

Authorities have evacuated more than 1,000 people from their homes in eastern Germany as heavy rain and melting snow caused rivers to flood.

German authorities today issued a flood alert for Dresden, where melting snow was swelling the Elbe River three years after its waters devastated the city’s cultural treasures.

SEVERE winter weather has wreaked havoc across Europe, with nearly 200 people freezing to death in Poland, two killed by storms in Germany and floods threatening several European countries.

Authorities in eastern Germany cleaning up from disastrous flooding have been presented with deadlier hazards – Second World War ammunition left behind by the receding waters.

THE swollen Elbe River peaked early yesterday in the eastern German city of Magdeburg, which was spared a major evacuation effort as dykes held back the floods that have left a trail of devastation upstream.

The swollen Elbe River peaked early today in the eastern German city of Magdeburg, which was spared a major evacuation effort as dikes held back the floods that have left a trail of devastation upstream.

FLOODING spread through eastern Germany yesterday, threatening to add to the misery of tens of thousands forced from their homes as the country faced its biggest relief effort since World War II.

Floods spread through eastern Germany today, adding to the misery of tens of thousands of people forced from their homes as the country faced its biggest relief effort since the Second World War.

HELICOPTERS ferried sandbags to plug the crumbling dikes of flooding rivers in eastern Germany yesterday, as workers scrambled to protect a huge chemical complex and towns such as Wittenberg, once the home of religious reformer Martin Luther.

Thousands of workers continued to fight devastating floods in central Europe today as the death toll from the disaster rose to at least 105.

Volunteers are battling to save Dresden's historic buildings from record floods which were expected to peak in the east German cultural capital early on Saturday.

MORE than 30,000 people were evacuated from historic Dresden yesterday as floodwaters in the Elbe River surged past an all-time high, closing in on cultural landmarks already waterlogged by an earlier wave of high water.

More than 30,000 people were evacuated from historic Dresden today as floodwaters in the Elbe River surged past an all-time high, closing in on cultural landmarks already waterlogged by an earlier wave of high water.

Thousands of people were evacuated from the baroque city of Dresden in eastern Germany today as floods on the Elbe River reached record levels.

German authorities evacuated thousands of people near Dresden's historic centre today as floodwaters in the Elbe River reached an all-time high, also spilling into a square close to some of the city's cultural landmarks.

FLOODWATERS in Dresden’s historic centre rose to the highest level in more than a century yesterday, threatening the Baroque city’s landmark opera and art collection as east Germany became the focus of flooding that has killed at least 100 people across Europe.