Photo Gallery When the Levee Breaks
At least 15 people have been killed and thousands evacuated in Poland due to flooding. Here, a man in Wiaczemin, central Poland, reacts on Sunday as the Vistula River floods the town. Heavy rain in southern Poland has caused the flooding to extend northward as rivers flowing to the Baltic Sea crest.
A helicopter drops sand bags to reinforce an already destroyed dike near the village of Swiniary.
The breaching of the flood embankment by the roaring waters of the Vistula River caused massive flooding in the village of Swiniary. Roughly 20,000 acres (8,000 hectares) and 23 villages in the area were covered in water as a result.
In Swiniary, people waited so long after the banks broke that they had to be evacuated by helicopter in some cases. A total of 4,000 people and 5,000 were evacuated in the area. Here, a rescue worker lifts an evacuee to a helicopter above the village of Sokolniki in southern Poland.
In Germany, residents are bracing for the Oder River to flood. Here, firemen build dikes in Torun in northern Poland on Sunday.
The Odra (as the Oder is known in Poland) and its tributary the Sleza flooded a district of Wroclaw in southern Poland over the weekend. The Polish government said that it would provide 152.2 million zlotys (36.5 million) to families seriously affected by flooding.
A flooded house in the southern Polish village of Chelm Maly: The Polish government said that flood barriers were in poor condition because of several days of inundation of water. Water levels have begun to retreat in southern parts of the country, but landslides still remain a concern.
Half-submerged cars in Wroclaw: Each household severely harmed by flooding will receive 6,000 zlotys (1,440) from the Polish government for basic necessities.
Sandbags provide a temporary barrier for the Vistula in Warsaw. Flooding threatens the homes of about 100,000 residents in the Polish capital.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that flood damage could top 2 billion ($2.44 billion). Here, high waters in Wroclaw.
Police used boats to deliver supplies to those stranded in southern Poland. Flooding in the south is now largely under control. However, the government has warned residents that the structural integrity of their homes may have been strained due to flood waters.
Although rain has stopped in southern parts of Poland, meteorologists expect flooding in the north this week as rivers begin to crest. A woman from Dobre, a village in southeast Poland, is carried by an emergency worker on Friday.
Two men ply the flood waters in Wroclaw on Sunday using table tennis paddles.
An embankment in central Poland was exploded on Monday to prevent further flooding of the region. Parts of the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary have been affected by the flooding which now threatens northeast Germany.
Maximum capacity: The Oder begins to swell along the Polish-German border on Friday. The first flood wave arrived in the area on Monday, affecting the German state of Brandenburg.
In Ratzdorf in Brandenburg (pictured), the water level was measured at 4.7 meters (15.4 feet) on Monday. Forecasters predict the water level to rise another half meter by Wednesday.
On Tuesday, the head of Brandenburg's environment department said that flooding in the state will reach alarm-level four by the weekend. That means there's a danger that dikes and dams may be flooded. Here, the Oder on Monday in the German border city of Frankfurt.
The Brandenburg environment department doesn't expect the flooding to last as long as the 1997 flood (pictured), which covered parts of the state for six weeks. Forecasts have predicted that the flooding will last three days in the state and not reach the height of the 1997 flood.
