Prague tense as floods creep higher

Firefighters and volunteers fought back river waters today as unprecedented flooding threatened Prague's historic Old Town and killed at least 95 people across Europe.

The raging Vltava River hit its highest point yet, just hours after police evacuated residents from the Czech capital's quaint cobblestone centre.

Officials said the evening hours would put hours of work and thousands of sandbags to the test.

An 81-year-old man who refused to evacuate his home drowned in Pisek, 60 miles south of Prague, raising the death toll in the Czech Republic to 10. Germany, also the scene of devastating flooding, reported five more deaths, pushing the death toll there to seven.

Raging waters cut off towns in the German state of Saxony and left parts of Dresden flooded, including the famed Semper-Oper opera house and the Zwinger palace, home to a renowned collection of Renaissance paintings. More than 20,000 people fled their homes.

Slovakia declared a state of emergency as the Danube River rose dangerously high in the capital, Bratislava. There were widespread power failures and some people used boats to get to work.

Most of Europe's flooding casualties were in Russia, where the death toll rose to 59 - mostly Russian tourists on the Black Sea who were swept away by swiftly moving water late last week.

The toll could rise, since 30 cars and buses remain on the sea floor, and authorities have not been able to search them yet. New storm warnings were issued for the area.

In Austria, where at least seven people have died, the swollen Danube flooded a popular island in Vienna used for recreation and picnics, submerging small restaurants and stalls.

In the neighbouring Czech Republic, the Vltava hit its highest level yet - almost 26 feet) - by mid afternoon. Although forecasters were hopeful the worst downpours had passed, heavy gusts of wind threatened to drive flood waters further into the centre of Prague.

Tourists and other onlookers swarmed to the edge of the river to watch the spectacle of menacingly brown waters lapping just a few feet under the arcs of the capital's ornate bridges.

Police pushed people back, but allowed trams to cross at least one bridge. The curious fanned out against the windows on both sides of the trams, straining for a glimpse of the surging currents.

Crowds also gathered around the National Theatre, a neo-Renaissance-style structure which was opened in 1881. Its basement was flooded, and volunteers worked in mud and puddles to try to keep the waters from encroaching further.

Hundreds of thousands of Czechs have fled the rushing waves of the Vltava and dozens of other rivers, searching for higher ground amid torrential rains. About 70,000 inhabitants of the capital's one million people left their homes.

"We're fighting a phenomenon," Prague Mayor Igor Nemec said. "Whether the water will spill over the barriers or not remains to be seen."

Sirens wailed through deserted streets as the Old Town evacuation progressed, spurred on by water lapping up to less than two feet from the edge of the barriers.

Much of the capital remained without electricity or phones and at least three streets in the city centre were accessible only by boat. Officials shut off natural gas pipelines as a precaution.

At the zoo on the flooded outskirts of Prague, a gorilla was missing and presumed drowned today, a day after keepers moved about 300 animals to higher ground. A sea lion that had escaped was seen swimming in the river.