Balkans struggle to contain rising Danube

EMERGENCY crews and volunteers yesterday struggled to keep embankments and sand barriers from giving way amid record flooding along the Danube and its tributaries in northern Serbia and elsewhere in the Balkans.

In Romania, the government ordered controlled flooding of thousands of acres of farmland to stave off threats to communities along the Danube.

In north-western Bulgaria, the Danube flooded most of the industrial zone in the city of Vidin, with water levels soaring to 380 inches this weekend.