In Hungary, more than 30,000 people have left their homes in two dozen villages. In Romania, some 3,700 people were forced to evacuate from their villages. Ukrainian television showed villagers using boats and rafts of wooden debris to get through the floodwaters. Electricity, gas and drinking water have been cut off in some areas. The authorities said floods, though an annual occurrence, were particularly severe this year.
Experts blame flooding on extensive felling of forests, which increases the spring runoff of water.