European floods kill six

Floods triggered by days of torrential rain swept through Europe yesterday, killing at least six people, forcing the evacuation of thousands more and threatening the Auschwitz death camp site.

The weather caused disruption in Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Serbia with fresh storms expected in many areas of central and southeastern Europe that have already been hit by a harsh winter.

In southern Poland, officials said three people died - a man swept away while walking next to a river with his son; a 45-year-old man who drowned while returning from a shop; and a woman aged 60 who went missing on Sunday.

A volunteer firefighter also died of a heart attack during a sandbagging operation to halt flood waters after days of rain, national fire brigade spokesman Pawel Fratczak said.

About 2,000 people were being evacuated in the Krakow region, said Fratczak, while houses, roads and railways between Krakow and the southern mountain resort of Zakopane were under water.

The former Nazi German death camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau was closed to visitors yesterday and staff were scrambling as flood waters swelled the nearby River Sola.

In southern Serbia flash floods killed two people and flooded dozens of houses, Beta news agency reported.

About 300 people were evacuated after the river Pcinja burst its banks late on Saturday, destroying nearly 100 metres of a concrete wall built to protect the town of Trgoviste, local television said.

Trgoviste was without drinking water and electricity.