Floods death toll reaches 42

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.

Hardest hit was Romania with 31 victims – many of whom drowned as torrents of water rushed into their homes. Austria, Bulgaria, Germany and Switzerland reported a total of 11 dead, but numbers were expected to climb as more bodies of the missing are recovered.