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.

Soldiers and residents in southwestern Poland are laying sandbags near swollen rivers around the city of Wroclaw to protect homes and businesses after days of flooding across Central Europe.

Soldiers have dropped sandbags from military helicopters to reinforce river embankments and evacuated residents as the worst flooding in years spreads across Central Europe

On Wednesday, soldiers and volunteers in southwestern Poland were laying sandbags near swollen rivers in the Wroclaw region

STORY: Bursting their banks and inundating towns - more rivers across central Europe have been unable to deal with a deadly deluge of heavy rain from the worst flooding in at least two decades.And on Monday Poland's government declared a disaster in affected areas and said that it had set aside $260 million to help victims.

Severe flooding in Central Europe, caused by a low-pressure system, has devastated Poland, Austria, the Czech Republic, and Romania. Authorities report 23 deaths, with thousands of soldiers and volunteers working to safeguard homes and businesses.

Soldiers and firefighters used sandbags to reinforce river embankments and delivered food and drinking water to cut-off communities as the worst flooding in years moved Tuesday across a broad swath of Central Europe,

By Kacper Pempel and Kuba Stezycki WROCLAW, Poland (Reuters) -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.