German Chancellor Gerhard Schröeder promised €100
million in urgent financial help for people worst hit by the torrential rains that have ravaged southern and eastern parts of Germany.
The package is on top of a low-interest credit programme, also set at €100 million announced yesterday, for those most in need.
Mr Schröeder, who is due to visit the flood-hit eastern state of Saxony today, said the extra cash would be disbursed in a "quick and unbureaucratic" way.
A further €25 million has been set aside for immediate infrastructure repairs and 10 million to help agriculture, he said.
Regional authorities in Saxony say six people have died so far there as a result of the rains that have lashed the country, bringing the national death toll since the weekend to nine.
The southern state of Bavaria has also been badly hit. While floodwaters are starting to recede in some areas, they are expected to rise further in others, including the city of Regensburg in the south where the Danube is approaching record levels.
In Saxony, thousands of people have had to be evacuated from their homes, electricity and telephone lines are down in many areas and German railways have rescheduled traffic away from the regional capital Dresden, where the Elbe river has flooded parts of the
AFP