Death toll from Europe's floods reaches 43

Swiss authorities started to evacuate parts of the small Alpine town of Brienz today, as the death toll from flooding in Europe rose to 43.

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 12 dead and large areas remained under water.

Two of the six killed in Switzerland were in Brienz, where the body of a woman previously reported missing was found near her home by a sniffer dog yesterday. The dead woman was the mother of the other victim, a teenage girl, Bern cantonal police said.

Water levels in Switzerland’s larger mountain lakes are no longer rising and the national weather service MeteoSuisse forecast little rain today, with just a few small showers expected in the Alps.

Waters were also receding in Austria, where four deaths have been recorded since the troubles began.

Meteorologists predicted heavy rain in southern Austria in the coming days and authorities braced for further mudslides.