Officials across central Europe issued disaster warnings and scrambled to reinforce flood defences as rivers swelled by days of heavy rain threatened to burst their banks.

Authorities in parts of central Europe issued disaster warnings and scrambled to reinforce flood defences yesterday as rivers swelled by days of heavy rain threatened to burst their banks.

Heavy rainfall swelled already full rivers in southern and eastern Germany yesterday, prompting authorities to reinforce flood defences after at least two people drowned in recent days.

HEIDELBERG may be the romantic soul of Germany but, until Saturday, nobody could have confused it with the beating heart of this World Cup.