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The authorities in south Moravia and Lower Austria are to set up a joint body to deal with possible flooding in the region of the Dyje river, which separates the Czech Republic and Austria. At a meeting on Friday the chairman of the Czech Senate, Petr Pithart, and Lower Austrian governor, Ervin Proell, agreed that shortcomings in cross-border co-operation during the recent floods needed to be dealt with. Mr Proell said that the floods would be high on the agenda of talks between the Czech and Austrian presidents, Vaclav Havel and Tomas Klestil, when the two men meet in two weeks' time.

While many parts of the Czech Republic experienced sunshine on Friday, weather forecasters have warned that some regions which have been flooded could be hit again; warm weather brings storms and those rains could raise river levels. The ground in flood hit areas is still water-logged and could not absorb any more water, experts from the Czech Meteorological Institute said on Friday.

President Havel said earlier this weeks that the Czech Republic had partly brought the flood devastation upon itself, laying the blame at the feet of the country's former communist rulers. In an article published in Britain's Financial Times newspaper, Mr Havel blamed what he described as "long-term attacks on the natural fabric of the landscape" - especially during the Communist era - for the devastation wrought by the floods over the past fortnight.

The death toll from the floods reached 14 on Thursday, when police found the body of a man floating in a river near Roztoky, just west of Prague. Police believe the body is that of a 24-year-old Slovak who was reported missing. The Czech authorities have launched a massive clean-up following the worst floods in several centuries. More than 200,000 people were evacuated from their homes, many houses were destroyed, and the final cost of repairing the damage could reach three billion dollars.

The presidents of several Central European countries gathered in the town of Castolovice on Thursday in a sign of solidarity during the current flood crisis. Czech President Vaclav Havel received pledges of support and emergency aid from Hungarian President Ferenc Madl and Polish President Alexander Kwasniewski. Slovakia's Rudolf Schuster was unable to attend due to illness. The Visegrad group, consisting of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland, was formed ten years ago to promote co-operation among the four former Communist countries. Each is currently a leading candidate for the European Union, and Slovakia may join the other three in the NATO alliance this year.

Heavy rains drenched parts of the Czech Republic on Wednesday night as meteorologists warned that more rain in the next few days could lead to further flooding. Some 70 millimetres of rain fell late Wednesday and early Thursday on the Sumava and Novohradske mountains near the Czech-Austrian border, and on the western city of Plzen. As a result, some of the area's rivers, which flow north towards Prague and Germany, are once again slowly rising. The Czech Meteorological Institute has issued a storm and flash-flood warning for southern and western Bohemia.

More than 1,000 residents of Prague returned to the flood-ravaged neighbourhood of Karlin this week, the first time they had been allowed back to their homes. Some have been allowed home permanently, others were given a few hours to collect valuables and throw out rotting food. Officials say contaminated rubbish and decaying meat in butchers' shops poses a major health hazard. So far, three buildings in Karlin have collapsed, although no one was hurt. Prague authorities have warned they would not be responsible for the safety of residents who violate evacuation orders.

Now that clean-up and reconstruction operations are well underway in the capital Prague local entrepreneurs have been thinking of ways to help raise money for the victims of the floods. One interesting up-coming event is a benefit concert to be held at a Prague bowling bar this Friday - the benefit is being put together by organisers from prague.tv, - no, not a local television station in spite of the name - an English-language web site created by two Americans and an Englishman based in the Czech capital. Their site acts as an information board

Premier Vladimir Spidla said he would ask the Chamber of Deputies to postpone the deadline for submitting a draft state budget for 2003 until the end of October.