Residents and authorities continue to battle heavy rainfall and floodwaters throughout Central Europe on September 15 as officials in Romania said at least six people were dead and two more were missing there.
Rain appeared to be easing somewhat in Romania late in the evening, although additional rainfall and strong winds are forecast across the region through at least September 16, authorities said.
In Austria, a firefighter died during rescue operations and a drowning death was reported in Poland, while four people were said to be missing in the Czech Republic with first responders battling the result of historic rains that inundated low-lying parts of the region.
In southwestern Poland, two dams reportedly failed amid what local authorities said was a "critical" situation.
In Romania, around 20 municipalities in eight Romanian counties were severely affected by the flooding.
Thousands of homes were damaged and tens of thousands were affected or being evacuated.
Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu announced temporary shelters for people endangered by the floodwaters during a visit to one of the northernmost affected counties, Galati, on September 14. He said saving lives was officials' first priority.
The head of the county council in Galati, Costel Fotea, said early on September 15 that more than 20,000 residents in at least 24 communities had been severely affected in that county alone.
Fotea said engineers would be spreading out to begin assessing the condition of bridges and roads, many of which are damaged or closed.
Romania's National Institute of Hydrology and Water Management has issued a code-red advisory for Galati and Vaslui counties as rescuers including from the army used boats and other ways to try to reach trapped residents, some of them forced to flee to rooftops.
Floodwaters in some areas were 3 meters deep.
Late on September 15, Romanian officials said a 50-year-old man died in Suhurlui, becoming the sixth known fatality in that country.
Meanwhile the water-management authority in Wroclaw in southwestern Poland said the situation was critical after a nearly 30-meter-high dam at Miedzygorze in the Klodzko Valley on the Polish border with the Czech Republic was breached, forcing evacuations. Later, a dam at Stronie Slaski, in the Lower Silesia region, was said to have failed.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said at an emergency briefing in Klodzko, near the Czech border, that the situation in southwestern Poland was "dramatic."
Tusk said he would announce a state of disaster and request aid from the European Union.
Train connections between Poland and the Czech Republic were suspended.
In Austria, dozens of municipalities were declared disaster zones.
The waters were swollen of the Kamp and Kremps rivers in Austria that flow into the Danube on its way to the Black Sea via the territory or borders of Hungary and Slovakia, Serbia and Croatia, and Romania and Bulgaria, and Moldova and Ukraine.
In the Czech Republic, police reported a search for three people who were riding in a vehicle that fell into an eastern river near Lipova Lazne.
Around 250,000 households were without power in the Czech Republic.
In the capital, Prague, authorities put flood prevention measures in place around the Vltava River.
More heavy rains were forecast through the day on September 15 for Austria, the Czech Republic, southern Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia.
Forecasters had said more than a third of the average annual rainfall of some areas could fall by September 15, with strong winds further complicating the situation.