Evacuations begin as flood death toll rises

SWISS authorities began evacuating parts of the small town of Brienz yesterday, as the death toll from flooding in Europe rose to 43.

Hardest hit was Romania with 31 victims - many of whom died when water rushed into their homes. Austria, Bulgaria, Germany and Switzerland reported a total of 12 dead and large areas remain underwater.

Two of the six Swiss dead were in Brienz, where the body of a missing woman was found near her home by a sniffer dog. She was the mother of the other victim, a teenage girl, police said.