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Fire-fighters in the east of the Czech Republic were called out nearly two dozen times Wednesday night as rains flooded cellars around the region of Moravo-Silesia. River levels abated over the course of Thursday and there is no imminent risk of further flooding. Heavy flooding at the end of June in northern and central Moravia caused 14 deaths, hundreds of evacuations and more than 6 billion crowns in damages.

Police have found the body of a 40-year-old woman in Benešov nad Ploučnicí who, they say, may be the 15th victim of the flash floods which struck the country in early July. A spokesperson for the police in Děčín said forensics specialists were now trying to identify the woman who was found in a river on Monday morning. The results of DNA tests should be known in a month, spokesman Ladislav Cvik added. The body is thought to be that of a woman who disappeared on July 4 when helping others escape flash floods in north Bohemia. The floods claimed at least 14 lives around the Czech Republic and caused billions of crowns worth of damage.

The country’s Central Flood Commission has admitted that areas hit by flash floods at the end of June should have received warning more quickly, the financial daily Hospodářské noviny has reported. According to the daily, the commission is recommending that the government set aside 30 million crowns (the equivalent of around 1.6 million US dollars) to better integrate communication between fire fighters and weather specialists in the future. The head of the commission, Environment Minister Ladislav Miko, explained that a key meteorological website had been down at crucial moments during the crisis. According to the daily, local mayors were not warned in advance of the danger. Meteorologists, meanwhile, have countered by saying that flash floods were not easy to predict - sometimes with only two hours advance warning or less.

The flash floods in the Czech Republic, which began in June, claimed 14 lives and caused between five to six billion crowns in damage.

Lightning storms and bouts of torrential rain over the weekend caused isolated calamities around the Czech Republic, however no extensive flooding has been reported. In the Moravian region of Šumperk a young man was killed when a group of four tourists was struck by lightening. In the northern Bohemian region of Ústí nad Labem flash floods swept away part of a road and a small bridge; firemen reported 81 calls in the region, where waterways rose by up to a meter. In Slovakia the country’s main summer music festival ended in tragedy on Saturday when high winds brought down the four-tonne main festival tent. Hundreds of spectators were attending a concert in the tent when it collapsed, killing one man and injuring more than 50, including at least two Czechs.

Heavy floods which hit parts of South Bohemia at the end of June caused more than 1 billion crowns in damages, Regional governor Jiří Zimola has told reporters. Floodwaters in the area hit some 500 homes and saw more than 1,000 people evacuated. Flooding in southern Bohemia began on June 28, coinciding with floods in northern and central Moravia, which claimed more than 12 lives.

The recent flash floods in the Czech Republic have focussed attention on how quiet streams could be transformed so rapidly into raging torrents causing destruction and taking lives. Environmental groups are putting the blame on manmade changes to rivers and the landscape. But while the Ministry of Environment is mapping out the risks, landscape changes to cushion the risks still seem a long way off.

Around 400,000 Czechs are at risk from floods, according to the Czech Television programme “Václav Moravec Questions” on Sunday. Moves to straighten river flows and changes in agricultural use meant that excess water was not being held in the soil, the programme added. Environment Minister Ladislav Miko said on the programme that the current caretaker government expects to table an overall plan how to better deal with the flood risk before the end of September. He added that the cost of restoring rivers and streams so that they contain flood water was around 115 billion crowns. More than a dozen people were killed in flash floods at the end of June, mostly in northern Moravia and southern Bohemia.

The health authorities have started inoculating children in the flooded regions against hepatitis. In the next few days over 3,000 children in the north, south and east of the country are to be vaccinated free of charge. Epidemiologists have warned people involved in clean up operations to take extra precautions in order to prevent the spread of disease. Many areas remain on emergency water supplies and thousands of homes are still inhabitable.

A search is on for a fifty-year-old woman who went missing in the flash floods that hit north Bohemia on Saturday. The woman was from Benešov nad Ploučnicí, and was last seen by neighbours in her backyard when the town was hit by a two meter flood wave. Police and firefighters are combing the vicinity for her. She may be the only victim of the floods in the north of the country. Nationwide the floods claimed 14 lives and caused over 6 billion crowns in damages.

More flash floods struck the Czech Republic on Saturday evening, this time in north Bohemia. Families were evacuated from their homes in Markvartice, Kunratice and Benešov nad Ploučnice. As water levels fell on Sunday morning, local authorities started to calculate the damage done, which is thought to run into millions of crowns. Local politicians said that the floods could not be compared with those which hit other Czech regions just over a week ago, leaving 14 dead and leading to a state of emergency being declared. No houses will have to be knocked down as a result of these latest floods, though roads remain blocked and inhabitants of the areas affected remain displaced.