Thousands of volunteers toiled alongside rescue workers today to clear walls of debris left by the downpours from Berne to Bucharest, which have caused more than €1 billion of damage in Switzerland alone.
Hundreds of people returned to their flood damaged homes in Switzerland and other parts of central Europe and the Balkans where the torrential rain has killed more than 40 people in the past week.
In the Swiss capital, Berne, police said most of the 1,100 residents of the old quarter, evacuated for fear the centuries-old buildings could collapse, were being allowed back, although water and electricity supplies had not been restored.
"The flood risk has receded, but there is an awful lot of clearing up to do," said Berne police spokesman Franz Maerki.
In southern Germany, hastily constructed dams on the river Danube prevented serious flood damage in the city of Regensburg, but parts of the old centre of Passau were still under water.
Some 30,000 people were involved in cleaning up and working to prevent further flooding, with around 1.5 million sand bags still in place across the region.
Heavy rain overnight in the southern Austrian provinces of Styria and Carinthia caused more landslides and flooding, though there were no reports of casualties.
Roads to popular mountain resorts in the western province of Tyrol reopened, though many routes remained closed to trucks and other heavy vehicles.
The Austrian government estimates the damage at hundreds of million of euros.
Power and telephone connections were expected to be restored in all of the mountainous province tonight, Austrian news agency APA reported.