Downpour hits Europe

Rescue helicopters plucked stranded Swiss from roofs and balconies yesterday as rising water and strong currents prevented boats reaching homes in parts of Switzerland and more rain was forecast in coming days.

Lakes and rivers burst their banks after days of fierce downpours across Switzerland, Austria and Germany, cutting off roads, power and communications from hundreds of communities.

Mudslides blocked roads and railway tracks while some bridges were swept away by the force of floodwaters.

In Romania, 25 people died in floods in the past 10 days and hundreds of people were evacuated from their homes.

Part of the Swiss capital, Berne, was flooded and without power after the swollen Aare river burst its banks.

"We have had to carry out rescue activities since last night by helicopter because we just can't get through (with boats) anymore. The current is just too strong," police spokesman Thomas Jeuch said.

Some residents waved for help from balconies while others used their mobile phones to call rescuers in the capital, where police said water levels were rising.

In Lucerne, at the foot of some of Switzerland's highest mountains, the water table was just centimetres below a historic high by midday, coming menacingly close to engulfing its famous 14th century wooden bridge.

Close to Lucerne, soldiers blasted waterways clear of debris and fallen trees.

Forecasters said the weather could get worse with a further 20-30 millimetres of rain expected overnight.

Seven people have died and thousands evacuated from their homes in Switzerland while in Austria the death toll rose to three yesterday and a fourth person was missing, feared drowned, police said.

Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel called an emergency Cabinet meeting to discuss relief efforts.

As rain eased in Austria's far western regions, hundreds of people were still cut off in villages. Some 17,000 firefighters helped by soldiers began repairing roads, pumping out basements and clearing mud from highways, bridges and railway lines.

In Germany, large tracts of land around Kochelsee and Bad Toelz in Bavaria were still under water though officials in the southern region said flood dangers had eased.

Thousands of sandbags were protecting the town of Neu-Ulm, which lies between the Danube and Iller rivers, to prevent floodwater reaching houses and other buildings.

Driving rain has also swept across the Balkans for most of the summer, causing hundreds of millions of euros of damage to roads, bridges, railways and crops.

Floods in April, May and last month killed another 30 people in Romania. Dozens died in neighbouring Bulgaria.

Railway services remained disrupted in central parts of Switzerland and the Bernese Alps. Goods transit through the Gotthard tunnel, part of Switzerland's major north-south transport route, was stopped.

In central Switzerland, more rain had fallen in three days than normally in the whole of August, weather forecasters said.

Parts of the Swiss ski resort of Klosters, which hosts Britain's Prince Charles for holidays each year, were submerged.

Some residents in eastern Switzerland began assessing the damage.

"Everything is kaputt," Petra Gubser told Reuters, standing outside her wrecked hair salon in the village of Weesen.

"I am just glad that I have got a dry pair of knickers and a warm bed," she added. "Others have got it worse than me."