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The Czech Hydro-meteorological Institute issued a severe flood alert for areas near the southern border with Austria and Slovakia on Friday after heavy rains raised rivers to dangerous levels. The weather service said more rain was on the way during the weekend, and would put further pressure on swollen rivers that have already burst their banks in several areas, some of which were just starting to return to normal after floods in 1997. It gave the most serious flood warning for the Dyje river in the southeast. A number of villages have been already been flooded, others are on high alert and people have been erecting sand barriers to try and protect their property.

This week's edition of Czech Books is bit of a departure from our usual format. We're still looking at a writer, but Alice Nellis is more than that. An award-winning film director and producer of several theatre productions, she brings her words to life on screen and stage alike. She and Radio Prague's Brian Sabin discuss her newest work - Zaplavy, or "Floods" in English - which is now showing at Prague's Theatre on the Balustrade.

Damages from floods earlier this year have been assessed at 300 million crowns - the equivalent of around 13 million US dollars - in the agriculture and forestry sectors. According to the Agriculture Ministry floods in late March and early April damaged thousands of hectares of fertile land, damaging a number of crops. Wheat, barley crops were among the hardest hit, as well as some orchards. Fish farms also suffered some 51 million crowns in damages.

Award-winning director and Czech native Alice Nellis has a new play making its debut this Sunday at the Theatre on the Balustrade in Prague's Old Town. Her films Eeny Meeny and Some Secrets both won a host of trophies, but since 2002 she's stayed away from the silver screen and worked mostly on stage. Her newest work, titled Zaplavy or "Floods" in English, a comedy inspired in part by the catastrophic floods of 2002, is her first original production to appear onstage.

The state has decided to offer all those who lost their homes to this year's floods a one-off sum of 150,000 crowns (a little over 6,800 US dollars) in compensation. The state will also help cover demolition costs, the Czech government decided on Wednesday. Most of the houses destroyed lie in southern Bohemia, a Regional Development Ministry assessment says. The compensation will be taken out of a 5 billion crown budget earmarked for flood relief by cabinet earlier this year.

Water levels of some rivers in Moravia have risen extensively following heavy rain on Saturday. Some areas in southern Moravia were put on the highest degree of flood alert. Meteorologists say the worst is over in most parts of the country, where only light showers are expected in the next few days. The Czech Republic is still recovering from a week of heavy flooding, which paralysed many regions earlier this month.

This week in Mailbox: Floods in the Czech Republic; smoking in public places; visa requirements for Czech citizens to enter Canada; fridge magnets once again plus last chance to enter our April listeners' competition. Listeners quoted: Anna Kristine Magnusdottir-Mikulcakova, Iceland; David Eldridge, UK; Ronald W. Dixon, Canada; Bob Boundy, New Zealand.

Police say they have found the body of a man in the Nove Mlyny dam in South Moravia. The man had been missing since April 3rd when rivers in the region started to swell as a result of persistent rain and melting snow. If an autopsy determines that the 42-year old man drowned, he will be the ninth casualty of this spring's floods in the Czech Republic.

The Morava River management says this year's floods have caused the company damage worth 770 million crowns (32 million dollars), which is twice as much as during the floods which hit the region in 2002. The director of the state company, Pavel Mylbachr, said that the swollen streams had damaged dams and dykes and riverbeds had silted up in places.

The Czech Republic will need to invest an estimated 40 to 50 billion crowns into flood prevention in the coming years, Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek said at a press conference in Prague on Thursday. The money is expected to come mainly from state coffers, possibly also from the European Investment Bank. The prime minister said that experts would need to consider the most efficient means of protection, such as the construction of small dams which would not only hold back floods but provide water during periods of drought. The government has earmarked 5 billion crowns to cover the cost of damages caused by this year's floods.