• European countries swamped by worst flooding in decades

    Peter Kneffel / EPA

    An aerial view shows areas of land flooded around Kolbermoor, Germany on June 3.

    Matthias Schrader / AP

    Members of the red cross make their way by boats in the flooded street in the center of Passau, southern Germany, June 3.

    Jens Schlueter / Getty Images

    Firefighter Robby Klaus drives by a rescue boat in the flooded center on June 3 in Grimma, Germany. Heavy rains are pounding southern and eastern Germany, causing wide-spread flooding and ruining crops.

    Jens Schlueter / Getty Images

    Helpers evacuate a woman in the flooded center of Grimma, Germany on June 3.

    Kerstin Joensson / AP

    A person looks at the heavily damaged road between Lofer and Waidring in the Austrian province of Tyrol on June 3.

    Germany, Austria, Poland, Switzerland and the Czech Republic have been affected by floodwaters from heavy rains with officials in the Czech capital, Prague, closing the subway system, evacuating thousands of homes and warning other people not to come into the city.

    "We can already speak of the worst flooding in the past 20 to 30 years," Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann said after meeting with a crisis management team. Read more.

    Juergen Feichter / EPA

    A helper takes a rest during cleanup efforts at the solarium of a hotel in Schuettdorf, Austria, June 3.

    Spring showers are unrelenting in areas of Europe where days of rain have sparked serious flooding. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.

  • Thousands evacuated as deadly floods swamp Europe

    Flood waters continue to rise in Europe, Austria, Germany and The Czech Republic have been hit hardest with thousands forced to flee their homes. The River Danube is among the rivers that have burst its banks and there are worries of flooding in Hungary and Slovakia. The flooding follows a downpour in which two months-worth of rain fell in just two days. ITV's Fatima Manji reports.

    By Andy Eckardt and John Newland, NBC News

    Floodwaters from heavy rains swamped five countries in Europe and threatened others, leaving at least eight people dead and nine missing.

    Germany, Austria, Poland, Switzerland and the Czech Republic have been affected, with officials in the Czech capital, Prague, closing the subway system, evacuating thousands of homes and warning other people not to come into the city. Slovakia and Hungary were preparing flood defenses on the Danube River.

    In Germany, rain levels that reached record highs in May contributed to widespread flooding across southern and eastern parts of the country.

    Michaela Rehle / Reuters

    The Bavarian town of Passau sits in high water on Monday.

    In the southern state of Bavaria, more than 20,000 firefighters and other rescue workers were battling rising water levels, especially in the southeast. The historic cities of Passau and Rosenheim declared states of emergency.

    Water in Passau, which is surrounded by three rivers, was at record levels, Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann said. "The situation is ... dramatic."

    Rescue workers and volunteers were filling sandbags, erecting temporary water barriers and helping to evacuate homes Monday morning, according to Passau's crisis management team.

    The German Army deployed more than 1,000 soldiers to Saxony and 600 to Bavaria to help with rescue and protection measures, and the air force sent helicopters to help with evacuations, officials said. Chancellor Angela Merkel planned to travel to the worst-hit areas on Tuesday. 

    In the eastern German state of Thuringia, more than 7,000 people had to spend the night in temporary shelters.

    In the Czech Republic, six people were dead and five were missing, despite more than 14,000 firefighters evacuating the homes of 7,000 people and carrying out 256 rescues, said national Fire and Rescue service spokeswoman Nicole Zaoralová.

    Spring showers are unrelenting in areas of Europe where days of rain have sparked serious flooding. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.

    Czech officials declared a state of emergency and closed the subway system in Prague for the first time since devastating floods struck in 2002. People were urged not to travel to the capital, as waters of the Vltava River reached critical levels and threatened the city's ancient center. "The situation in Prague is still not stabilized," Zaoralová said.

    "We have problems in the whole area of the Czech Republic, especially Bohemia," an Interior Ministry spokesman said. "We are hoping that it will not be as bad as it was in 2002."

    In Austria, two people died, including a cleanup worker killed in a mudslide near Salzburg. Three more were reported missing.

    Train lines in many parts of northwest Austria were suspended Sunday due to landslides. In just two days, Austria had experienced as much rain as it normally would in two months, the Austrian meteorological center said.

    This weekend saw many southern German towns struck particularly hard. "In the past three days, more than 400 liters of rain per square meter [about 10 gallons per square foot] were measured in many regions that border the Alps," meteorologist Klaus Lessmann from German public broadcaster ZDF said.

    The German Weather Service, DWD, reported Monday that Germany had not seen such extreme soil moisture in the past 50 years.

    "Many fields are completely saturated and cannot hold more water," Johanna Anger from the DWD said.

    Roman Vondrous / CTK via AP

    A couple in a Prague suburb carry three kittens in a plastic bag through floodwaters on Sunday.

    Many residents in affected towns and villages were without power overnight and as a precautionary measure, many schools were kept closed on Monday.

    Evacuations were also taking place in Poland and Switzerland.

    "Rain, Rain, Go Away: Germany Drowns in Endless Downpour," Germany's Der Spiegel magazine headlined on its website.

    "There is hope on the horizon," Anger said. "There is still some rain today, but the weather forecast is better for the coming days."

    Despite less rain and better weather forecasts, however, officials were still on high alert.

    "Especially along the Danube, we cannot speak of an easing of flood situation at all," Herrmann said.

     

    Related stories:

     

    This story was originally published on Mon Jun 3, 2013 8:10 AM EDT

  • Flooding kills at least 46 people in Argentina

    Daniel Garcia / AFP - Getty Images

    A soldier evacuates an elderly woman in a flooded street in La Plata, 39 miles southeast of Buenos Aires, Argentina, on April 3.

    Natacha Pisarenko / AP

    People embrace outside a club where the Red Cross set up a center to help flood victims in La Plata, in Argentina's Buenos Aires province, on April 4.

    Natacha Pisarenko / AP

    Vilma Gorostiaga cries outside her home as she dries her family pictures on the ground in La Plata, in Argentina's Buenos Aires province, on April 4.

    By Reuters

    Flash floods killed at least 46 people and forced about 1,500 residents to evacuate the Argentine city of La Plata, capital of Buenos Aires province, government officials said on Wednesday.

    Some people drowned after being trapped in their cars or while walking along city streets when the water rose suddenly on Tuesday night, while others were electrocuted, provincial governor Daniel Scioli told reporters. Continue reading.

    Natacha Pisarenko / AP

    Juan Fernandez sits inside a club where the Red Cross set up a help center for people affected by flooding after his home was damaged in La Plata, in Argentina's Buenos Aires province, on April 4.

    Previously on PhotoBlog:

  • Flooding kills at least 46 people in Argentina

    Jorge Luperne/Reuters

    Residents stand next to debris of their ruined home after heavy rains flooded a large part of the city, in La Plata on April 3.

    By Reuters

    Flash floods killed at least 46 people and forced about 1,500 residents to evacuate the Argentine city of La Plata, capital of Buenos Aires province, government officials said on Wednesday.

    Some people drowned after being trapped in their cars or while walking along city streets when the water rose suddenly on Tuesday night, while others were electrocuted, provincial governor Daniel Scioli told reporters.

    The same storm killed at least five people in Buenos Aires, which lies about 36 miles northwest of La Plata.

    "Families and small children spent the night on their roofs, getting wet. People in wheelchairs were up to their waists in water all night. It was a disaster," Bruno Zorzit, a resident of La Plata, told Reuters Television.

    Local media said between 12 to 16 inches of rain fell in just two hours, flooding low-lying neighborhoods in La Plata and surrounding areas.

    President Cristina Fernandez, who grew up near La Plata, visited the flood zone and promised to send more police to calm people's fears that evacuated homes could be looted.

    Natacha Pisarenko / AP

    A couple looks at their flooded street from behind their home's window in La Plata, in Argentina's Buenos Aires province, Wednesday, April 3, 2013.

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  • Keep calm and drink beer? Brits carry on in rising flood waters

    Paul Ellis / AFP - Getty Images

    Men sit in flood waters outside a bar as water levels continue to rise on the River Ouse in York, northern England on Sept. 26. Britain was bracing for more torrential rain as hundreds of people spent the night away from their flooded homes following two days of heavy downpours.

    Paul Ellis / AFP - Getty Images

    Water levels rise on the swollen River Ouse that burst its banks and caused flooding after heavy rain in York, northern England on Sept. 26. Britain was bracing for more torrential rain as hundreds of people spent the night away from their flooded homes following two days of heavy downpours.

    Paul Ellis / AFP - Getty Images

    A man uses a bucket to clear flood water from a taxi office as water levels continue to rise on the River Ouse following heavy rain in York, northern England on Sept. 26.

    Christopher Furlong / Getty Images

    Firefighters rescue residents from Minerva Court in the Yorkshire town of Boroughbridge. The complex housing senior citizens has been cut off by floods and has had no power for 24 hours on Sept. 26 in York, England. Heavy wind and rain have battered central and northern parts of the UK with more rain forecast. Swollen rivers are still threatening towns across Britain as rain water from hills makes it's way down.

    Scott Heppell / AP

    A view of the block of apartments which have there foundations washed away from the heavy flood waters in Newburn, near Newcastle, England, on Sept. 26 as communities work to rescue stranded residents from their homes, after heavy rain caused flash floods across parts of Britain. People have been evacuated from their homes and flooding has caused major disruption to transport after parts of the United Kingdom were battered with more heavy rain.

    View more photos from England on PhotoBlog.

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  • Daily News via Reuters

    Heavy rains flood towns in Thailand, forcing thousands to evacuate

    A general view of a flooded town in Sukhothai province is seen, north of Bangkok on Sept. 12. Thousands have fled their homes in Northern Thailand after heavy rain caused a major river to overflow at the start of the month, sending up to a meter of water into some towns. So far, four people have died.

  • After Hong Kong weathers typhoon, anger roils over Beijing flooding deaths

    A powerful typhoon swept through Hong Kong, pounding the region with heavy rain and strong wind. NBC's Ed Flanagan reports.

    By Ed Flanagan, NBC News

    BEIJING – Hong Kong battened down the hatches Monday and rode out the strongest typhoon to hit the city in 13 years.

    For the first time since 1999, Hong Kong raised its Signal 10 typhoon warning – the highest on the city’s weather observatory scale – for several hours Monday evening as typhoon Vicente pounded the region with gale force winds said to have reached speeds as high as 101 miles per hour. 

    Hong Kong authorities reported 129 people were injured by the typhoon, with as many as 30 of the injuries caused by flying debris scooped up by the high winds. Seven incidents of flooding were reported in Hong Kong’s New Territories region.

    Meanwhile, Beijing suffered through a 10-hour downpour over the weekend that dumped 6.7 inches of rain in parts of the city and as much as 18 inches in the worst hit parts on the outskirts of Beijing in what is being called the worst flooding to hit the Chinese capital in six decades. 

    The subsequent severe flooding killed at least 37 people in the country's capital and affected nearly two million people, sparking millions of angry messages and complaints on China’s Twitter-like service, Weibo, in recent days.  Users posted countless home videos and pictures of cars struggling through wheel-deep water, waterfalls cascading down into Beijing's subway entrances and cars being swept away by the currents.

    The differing level of destruction between the two cities provoked outrage at Beijing’s government, with critics asking why the city’s infrastructure failed to buffer the storm.

    Hong Kong relatively unscathed in typhoon's aftermath
    In Hong Kong, the damage from the typhoon wasn’t nearly as bad. Trees throughout the city were overturned while flying debris reportedly caused some minor structural damage in parts of Hong Kong’s usually busy financial district of Central. The high winds were said to have also whipped up large waves in Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbor which pounded walkways and ferry terminals around the famous city skyline.

     

    The brewing storm sent office workers scrambling home as they hurried to avoid a partial public transportation suspension in the lead-up to the storm. Non-essential government offices were also closed early Monday and port and airport authorities shut down operations until the storm passed.

    During the worst of the storm in the early hours of Tuesday morning, the BBC reported that 60 flights were cancelled, an additional 60 more delayed and 16 diverted.

    By Tuesday 8 a.m. local time, the Hong Kong Observatory reported a weakened Typhoon Vicente was heading away from Hong Kong, allowing public transportation and flights from Hong Kong International Airport to resume. Trade on Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index also resumed earlier Tuesday.

    The typhoon is reportedly creeping its way into China’s Guangdong province, where weather experts were warning that Vicente could still dump as much as 12 inches of rain in affected areas.

    The typhoon comes as China is experiencing serious weather disturbances throughout the country. Near China’s central metropolis of Chongqing, heavy rains have caused flooding and brought the Three Gorges Dam – the world’s largest hydropower dam – perilously close to its largest flood peak this year.

    Critics pound government’s response to Beijing storm

    While Hong Kong seemed to weather the storm, nearly every aspect of the government’s response to the Beijing flooding has been criticized by the public, with much of the anger being directed at the shoddy drainage system. Netizens have also been quick to complain about the Beijing municipal government’s lack of preparedness for dealing with the disaster and the city’s failures in weather forecasting and deploying a good storm-warning service.

    Beijing officials are saying that economic losses from the storm will surpass $1.5 billion dollars. But the PR hit to the city’s vaunted new infrastructure just four years after its coming out party during the summer Olympics has been far more costly -- especially considering the relatively minor damage suffered by Hong Kong from a major typhoon.

    Public outrage over Beijing deaths

    “Hong Kong just experienced the biggest typhoon in 13 years, but there are only seven reports of flooding, one report of landslide and no one died,” wrote one angry poster on Weibo comparing the Hong Kong typhoon with Beijing’s flooding. “The media effectively announced the alert, and reported the complaints of its citizens…The whole society functions under the normal rhythm.”

    “The rainfall in Beijing and the typhoon in Hong Kong,” stated another irate poster. “Two completely different systems are shown in the same mirror.”

    Sensitive to the great public outcry, Weibo began censoring overly critical posts on the subject of the Beijing floods. Citing alleged directives from the Beijing Municipal Committee Department of Propaganda, the China Digital Times posted reputed orders from the department that called for “public opinion guidance concerning yesterday’s rainstorms” in the form of state-run media shifting the focus of its news stories away from issues like the failure of the city’s drainage system to features that “emphasize the power of human compassion over the elements.”

    On the edge of the Gobi desert, Beijing has not always had to deal with large rainstorms like Hong Kong, which is regularly in the season path of typhoons in the South China Seas area. Still, with more heavy rains expected later this week, local officials here will certainly be feeling the heat to keep the city largely dry throughout the rest of this rainy season.

    NBC News’ Tianzhou Ye contributed to this report.

  • Villages in Wales cut off by severe flooding

    Photos by Christopher Furlong / Getty Images

    Travel trailers are damaged by flash floods at Riverside Caravan Park, near the village of Talybont on June 9, 2012 in Aberystwyth, Wales.

    Children play in a flooded park in the seaside village of Borth on June 9, 2012 in Aberystwyth, Wales. Severe flooding has affected mid Wales with a major rescue operation under way taking to safety nearly 100 people so far.

    Remnants of jubilee bunting float in flood water at the Riverside Caravan Park in Aberystwyth, Wales.

    The BBC reports:

    Villages have been cut off with houses and caravan parks being flooded. Emergency services have helped people get to safety with some being rescued by helicopter. Three people have received treatment after sustaining minor injuries.

    The Environment Agency said "up to five inches" of rain fell in the area in 24 hours and they remain concerned about the river Rheidol which is still rising.

     

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    Rescue crews lift people to safety on Saturday as water rushes through a mobile home park.

  • Floodwaters cover farmland and destroy roads in South Africa

    Foto24 / Gallo Images via Getty Images

    Damaged roads caused by flooding on Jan. 19, in Hoedspruit, South Africa. People were plucked from the roofs of their submerged houses and others from trees where they'd been trapped after torrential rain in the Hoedspuit area in Limpopo, where up to 11 inches of rainfall was measured.

    Foto24 / Gallo Images via Getty Images

    Aerial view of a flooded area on Jan. 19 in Hoedspruit, South Africa.

    Noel Klopper / South African Air Force via EPA

    An aerial view of an overflowing dam wall in Mpumalanga, South Africa, on Jan. 20. Hundreds of people have been made homeless by heavy flooding in South Africa and Mozambique according to officials. Heavy rain in a short period of time in this part of Southern Africa caused the floods prompting many to seek refuge on rooftops and in trees and an evacuation of the Kruger National Park, a game reserve in northern South Africa. Rescuers have used helicopters to save at least 150 people from submerged houses in the area.

    Heavy rain in southeast Africa has caused serious flooding and damage in South Africa and Mozambique. About 20 foreign tourists had to be airlifted out of South Africa's Kruger National Park, which has been closed since flooding destroyed roads there, according to Reuters. In Mozambique, more than 5,000 have evacuated their homes and five deaths have been reported.

  • Floodwaters rise as Dutch watch and wait

    AP reports - Dozens of farmers were warned to evacuate land north of the Dutch capital Thursday as a dike protecting the area threatened to collapse.

    Robin Utrecht / AFP - Getty Images

    A Dutch local resident watches floodwaters through his window, in Dordrecht on Jan. 5. Gale force winds and heavy rains are expected along the Dutch coast. About a quarter of the country sits below sea level.

    Local mayor Ben Plandsoen told national broadcaster NOS that a polder — reclaimed land that is drained by pumps and mills — would likely be submerged under some 40 centimeters (16 inches) of water if the dike protecting it breaks.

    Catrinus Van Der Veen / EPA

    People walk on a bridge over the Dutch Groninger Museum as the building is threatened by high water in Groningen, northern Netherlands, on Jan. 5. Although there are fears that the high water caused by heavy rains and storms could flood the museum, it was still open for the public on Jan. 5.

    "You just don't know how the dike will hold up," he said. "It is saturated, so you don't know how much pressure it can take."

    Vincent Jannink / EPA

    A Dutch police officer watches the high water situation in Tolbert, in the north of the Netherlands, on Jan 5, where a dyke may fail and flood farmland, following heavy rains and storms hitting the coastal country.

    Continue reading in the full story...