Thousands have been forced from their homes and at least nine people have been killed as floodwaters deluged swathes of Europe, including the historic centre of the Czech capital Prague.
Shops and schools were shut on Monday and road and rail transport were disrupted across the Czech Republic, Austria and Germany following torrential rains.
The flooding caused chaos at Prague Zoo where around 1000 animals were moved to higher ground after the Vltava river burst its banks late on Sunday.
Zookeepers had to tranquillise tigers and other large animals in a dramatic overnight operation.
“It’s a terrifying feeling to experience this all over again,” Petr Velensky, the zoo’s reptile specialist, told AFP, recalling how many animals drowned in a 2002 flood.
Czech rescue crews were searching for four more people believed to have died in floodwaters that cut power to tens of thousands of households.
The heavy rainfall has triggered nightmarish memories of the 2002 floods that killed dozens in the region including 17 in the Czech Republic alone.
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The Czech government declared a state of emergency on Sunday, deploying 2000 troops in its rescue drive as more than 7000 people were evacuated from their homes, officials said.
A house collapse killed two people south of Prague, while an electrician was killed trying to switch off a transformer as a precaution, and three men drowned in rivers or drains around the country, police said.
Thousands of households were hit with power outages, while fallen trees snarled rail traffic across western regions of the Czech Republic.
Flooding also deluged neighbouring Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Two people were reported dead in Austria and another person died in Switzerland.
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