The warning from Austrian and German authorities comes after several people died in weather-related incidents.

Rescue workers airlifted residents from a half-submerged riverside district of the Swiss capital today as large swathes of central and southern Europe remained underwater and the death toll from flooding rose to 42.

Avalanches killed a skier and seriously injured two others in the Austrian Alps today after experts warned that recent storms have created unstable conditions ripe for more snow slides.