Thousands of Romanians have fled low-lying areas of the Danube basin in the last 24 hours as the river overwhelmed flood defences to swamp towns, villages and farmland, officials said today.
Europe's second-longest river - swollen by rain and the spring run-off - has swept across hundreds of thousands of hectares in central and southeastern Europe this month forcing people on the Danube's flood plains out of their homes.
More than 5,000 people in Romania have been evacuated in the last 24 hours according to interior ministry reports. "Around 2,500 people have been displaced overnight from the villages of Sarata, Sapata, Bechet and Macesu in the Dolj county as a precautionary move," the region's prefect Nicolae Giugea said today.
In the villages of Spantov and Chiselet, further downstream in the county of Calarasi, around 3,000 people fled their homes over the past day and have been accommodated in military tents pitched on higher ground.
Romania has reported 15,000 evacuations since the river began spilling its banks earlier this month. Other countries such as Serbia, Hungary and Bulgaria have reported much lower numbers of evacuations. But all have thousands of hectares (acres) of rural land under water.
In Bulgaria, waters started to fall by between five and 11 centimetres in the past 24 hours and authorities have started to disinfect previously flooded areas.
Evacuated people have not yet returned because underground waters were still high and houses could not yet be drained.
The Balkans are still reeling from devastating floods which killed scores of people and left thousands homeless last summer. The Danube originates in Germany and flows through or forms borders with 10 countries before emptying into the Black Sea.