Flash floods are continuing to wash across central Europe.

So far southern Poland has born the brunt of the disaster, with thousands forced from their homes.

Authorities are working round the clock to evacuate stranded residents.

Some are reluctant to leave, others are just glad to be alive.

Rising flood waters are now threatening the Polish capital as the Vistula river swelled to its higest level for 160 years.

Parts of Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia have also experienced severe flooding. At least seven people have lost their lives across Central Europe.

Home owners have been building makeshift dams in a desperate attempt to protect their properties.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk says his country’s losses are expected to exceed 2 billion euros and has requested financial aid from the European Union.

Tusk says he won’t declare a state of emergency because it would push back next month’s presidential elections, which have had to be organised in the wake of Lech Kaczynski’s death in a plane crash last month.

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