Flooding on the Elbe river moved north this morning, breaking dykes in the Saxony Anhalt region and threatening more German towns.
The fresh flooding came after European leaders stepped in to aid central European countries shattered by the flooding.
A sixteenth German victim was found drowned in Saxony, the worst-hit state where 12 people have perished, as the floods moved north through Torgau in Saxony and Dessau in Saxony Anhalt.
Some 40,000 people were evacuated from around the town of Wittenberg, home to Martin Luther and the latest community hit by waters that have washed down from Prague since last week.
Floods across central Europe have killed over 90. More than 4.2 million people have been affected in Germany, and over 100,000 have fled their homes.
German Chancellor Mr Gerhard Schröeder announced the EU would provide countries hit by floods with aid available from a community fund for regions in difficulty.
Mr Schröeder hosted a special flood summit in Berlin attended by European Commission President Mr Romano Prodi and leaders of Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, aimed at co-ordinating funding for the massive repair job.
Mr Schröeder said the EU emergency aid would come from so-called structural funds that have not yet been earmarked for other projects through 2006. It would go not only to EU members Austria and Germany but also to the Czech Republic and Slovakia.