At least 23 people have now died in Europe's flood disaster as the Polish city of Wrocław sees the level of the Oder river peak and Austria begins planning for "years" of reconstruction. The water level on the Oder river flowing through Poland's fourth-largest city Wrocław peaked overnight and is expected to stay high for some time,

Prague was putting up flood defences in the city's historic centre on Friday after Czech forecasters expanded a warning for extreme rainfall to areas of the country including the capital, which suffered catastrophic flooding more than 20 years ago.

Recent days have seen torrential rain sweep through central and eastern Europe, swelling rivers and triggering flood warnings in the Czech Republic, Poland, Austria, Slovakia, and Hungary. The flood barriers in Czech capital Prague have been raised, while in parts of Poland residents have been evacuated.

Soldiers and volunteers in southwestern Poland laid sandbags Wednesday near swollen rivers around the city of Wroclaw to protect homes and businesses after days of flooding across Central Europe. Poland joins Austria,

Soldiers and volunteers in southwestern Poland have been laying sandbags near swollen rivers around Wroclaw. Days of flooding have wreaked death and destruction across Central Europe.