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Emergency shelters have been set up in many parts of the country and psychologists are helping flood victims to deal with the crisis. It is not yet clear how many people may be left homeless. According to the authorities it may take up to four days for water levels to return to normal. Telephone help lines and counseling centers are working around the clock. The mayor of Prague has advised people not to return to their homes prematurely since parts of the Czech capital are expected to remain without electricity and gas, clean water and food supplies for some time.

It's not just Prague that is having to cope with floods. Torrential rains have meant that a state of emergency has spread even to the far north of the country along the River Elbe. But much of the most serious flooding has been in the south, near the Czech Republic's borders with Austria and Germany. The centre of the historic town of Cesky Krumlov is entirely under water, as is the region's biggest city Ceske Budejovice, which has faced a series of flood waves. Earlier Radio Prague's David Vaughan talked to Barbora Tosnerova, who lives in

The Czech capital city Prague has been hit by its worst flood in more than a hundred years. 50, 000 residents have been ordered by authorities to evacuate their homes, and both citizens and tourists have been repeatedly warned to stay away from danger areas that include parts of the historic centre. Earlier in the day I spoke to my colleague Rob Cameron, who was at the scene:

Meanwhile in Prague, meteorologists expect the flooding in the city lying downstream on the Vltava river to be the worst since 1890. Whilst several low-lying streets and islands have already been flooded, the Prague crisis committee warns that a new wave could lead to the Vltava river spilling into more of the city overnight. The new wave threatens to be much bigger, possibly bringing in twice as much water as the damaging wave that reached the city on Friday. Several districts of Prague are without electricity and some 70 patients had to be evacuated from the Na Frantisku hospital on the Vltava embankment and transported to four other hospitals on Monday afternoon. With more rain forecast in the next few days, the crisis committee fears further flooding due to the soil's inability to hold any more water and the failure of dams containing the flow.

Several towns have been cut off and many villages flooded as new rain continued to swell rivers in south-central Bohemia. Whilst firemen and soldiers have already evacuated a number of towns and villages, the regional governor in central-Bohemia called for people living around the Berounka and Vltava rivers to prepare for further evacuation. People have also been told to leave parts of the UNESCO-protected town of Cesky Krumlov - the second most popular tourist destination after the capital city, Prague. Jan Bauer, the mayor of the southern town of Prachatice, told Czech Radio that the flooding had left trains and buses not running because bridges have fallen and roads are damaged. Whilst floods sweeping across Europe have killed more than 60 people in the last week, the Czech Republic has reported four casualties so far. Another three people - including two voluntary firemen - died of heart attacks during rescue work.

Czech Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla called a state of emergency in five regions in Bohemia on Monday. In a public address on Czech Radio, Mr Spidla stated that the damage caused by heavy floods in Prague, Central Bohemia, South Bohemia, and the Pilsen and Carlsbad districts was extensive enough to threaten the property, health, and lives of citizens. The state of emergency has been called to run from 1800 hrs on Monday to midnight on August 22nd, meaning that anyone other than rescue workers is prohibited to enter restricted and evacuated zones and evacuated citizens are compelled to report their temporary places of residence to the authorities.

The whole country might be absorbed by this latest wave of severe flooding, the papers full of photos of swollen rivers and inundated fields. It's not the first time the Czech Republic has been hit, at least once a decade the country finds itself filling sandbags and wading through muddy water. The difference is now - almost thirteen years after the fall of Communism - the media can report freely on natural disasters such as floods, a far cry from the situation before 1989. Rob Cameron reports.

The Czech Republic is counting the human cost of the latest round of severe flooding to hit the country, which claimed up to four lives and made 2,000 others temporarily homeless. The worst of the flooding occurred in the South Bohemia region, but rising waters have reached as far as the River Vltava in Prague. Rob Cameron reports.

The governor of south Moravia Stanislav Juranek has called a state of emergency in five villages where heavy floods killed two people and caused extensive property damage on Tuesday. A huge clean-up operation is underway in the region and volunteers are helping to pile up sandbags on river banks as protection against further flooding. Meteorologists have forecast more torrential rain over the next 24 hours. Tuesday's floods took the region by surprise and rivers rose by two meters in places. The Interior Minister Stanislav Gross, who visited the region on Tuesday, said the state would provide humanitarian aid. The damage has been estimated at over 30 million Czech crowns.