Floods add to Europe’s cold spell

The toll from Europe’s winter weather pushed past 360 yesterday when snow- and rain-swollen rivers burst a Bulgarian dam and killed at least eight, while more homeless people perished on frigid city streets.

Four elderly people drowned in their homes in the southeastern Bulgarian village of Biser after a nearby dam wall broke, submerging the whole village under 2.5 metres of icy water, the interior ministry said. Another four people died when their cars were swept from bridges into raging rivers in the same region.

“People are in panic,” regional mayor Mihail Liskov said on national radio as a massive rescue effort was under way. “Ninety per cent of the village is under water.”

Two other dams were brimming with water and heavy rains triggered a landslide that derailed a train near the Turkish border. No injuries were reported.

Temperatures touched new lows in parts of Europe, including Switzerland which reported the mercury dipping to minus 35.1 Celsius overnight in the eastern Graubuenden canton and the Czech Republic, where the town of Kvilda recorded a winter low of minus 39.4 degrees Celsius.

Transients have borne the brunt of the suffering, with frozen victims found in abandoned and un-heated homes, fire escapes or makeshift shelters on Europe’s streets.

In a bid to save lives, Poland’s homeless shelters have dropped a ban on drunken individuals.

Across the continent, authorities have reported at least 368 weather-related deaths.

In Lithuania, where the temperature dipped to minus 31 degrees Celsius, the deaths of 12 people overthe weekend brought the toll to 23.