Floods begin to ease in Prague

Police in Prague are allowing tourists back into the historic square as the threat from flooding appears to have eased.

But emergency workers are continuing to stack sandbags against the banks of the Vltava River.

Although the river is rising more slowly and the rain has stopped, heavy winds have begun gusting through the city.

They have raised fears of a storm that could push the flood waters through the barricades.

Earlier about 70,000 people in Prague were forced to flee their homes.

Police cordoned off the city's Old Town and ordered residents to evacuate as emergency workers battled to save the historic district.

The Czech Republic capital has suffered its worst flooding in more than a century and at least 89 people have died across central Europe.

At least nine people have died in Prague as the engorged Vltava River cascaded into the city centre.