Heavy rains battered Belgium at the weekend, causing flooding and mudslides that left at least three people dead as scores of others had to be evacuated, sometimes by boat, reports said yesterday.

A 72-year-old woman died overnight Saturday when she was unable to leave a car that became trapped after a river broke its banks in the Solre-Saint-Gery village close to the French border, the Belga news agency reported.

The body of a second villager, who appeared to have been swept away by a flood while he was walking, was also found, the report said.

Rescuers recovered a third body yesterday in Lessines, in the same area, where another river had overflowed, it said. Another person was reported missing.

While the rain appeared to have eased yesterday after downpours that began late Friday, water levels continued to rise with floods and mud blocking several routes and causing people to be evacuated from their homes.

An entire hospital was evacuated in the central city of Tubize. Central and northern areas activated their provincial disaster plans but Prime Minister Yves Leterme said it was not immediately necessary to deploy national disaster measures, with the situation under control.

Around the capital Brussels, canals had burst their banks and 230 houses were evacuated at Leeuw-Saint-Pierre while pharmaceutical group UCB had to halt work at its flooded factory.

Train traffic was interrupted, including the international Thalys and Eurostar lines, and the army was mobilised in some areas, reports said.