The European Union will make billions of euros available to help central Europe recover from severe floods, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Thursday, as she pledged support for regions that have been devastated by the deluge.

A massive floodwave moving across Central Europe is threatening new areas and raising concerns among residents and leaders.

Hungary’s Viktor Orbán is skeptical that his country will receive timely help from the EU following widespread flooding across central Europe this week. “With all due respect, if we waited for Brussels to bail us out, we’d be up to our necks in water,” the prime minister said at his government’s Thursday morning press conference.

Just a week ago, before deadly floods swept through central Europe, the Czech Republic looked on track to become the first country in the region since COVID-19 to pull its budget deficit firmly below the 3% of GDP cap set by European Union rules.

Central European countries that have suffered enormous damage to infrastructure and housing during a massive flooding that has so far claimed 24 lives

Central Europe is experiencing the worst floods in at least two decades, with a trail of destruction from Romania to Poland and and the deaths of at least 23 people so far. * Four provinces in southwestern Poland are covered by the highest level of hydrological warnings against level 3 floods.

Volunteers and emergency personnel raced to secure river banks and buildings in Poland and Hungary on Tuesday as flood waters that have wreaked havoc across central Europe began to rise in new areas and the Czech Republic reported another death.

A massive flood wave has been moving across Central Europe and threatening new areas. Heavy rains also caused flooding and evacuation of some 1,000 people in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna. In Central Europe, the receding waters revealed the ...

By Kacper Pempel WROCLAW, Poland (Reuters) -Volunteers and emergency personnel worked through the night to fortify the Polish city of Wroclaw against approaching flood waters, while Hungary opened a dam as the prime minister warned a "crucial period" was approaching.

The death toll from the severe flooding in Central Europe has risen to at least 23, according to the latest tally after another victim was confirmed. In the Czech Republic, a fifth death was announced by Interior Minister Vit Rakušan on Thursday.