German authorities have scrambled to evacuate thousands of people from cities on the river Elbe as record floods appeared to peak in the eastern city of Dresden.
Elsewhere in flood-ravaged central Europe, where at least 91 people have died in a week in Germany, Russia, Austria and the Czech Republic, Budapest became the next capital city under threat with Hungarian officials saying flood levels were due to peak there on tomorrow or Monday.
As a wave of floodwater headed down the Elbe in Germany, thousands were evacuated today from the heavily industrial city of Bitterfeld amid fears of an environmental disaster if water from a burst dam reached nearby chemical plants.
Emergency workers toiled in the city to build temporary defences with sandbags.
About 8,000 people around the German town of Torgau had to abandon their homes and several thousand more were set to be evacuated around the central city of Magdeburg, officials said.
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder is to attend a summit with leaders from the other flood-stricken states of Austria, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia in Berlin tomorrow.
German officials said European Commission President Romano Prodi would also attend the talks, which is expected to require a multi-billion euro cleanup.
As recent torrential rains swelled the Danube river, its level in Budapest rose inexorably, but Hungarian officials predicted the city's 10-metre defences would be high enough.
They expressed cautious optimism even though Danube water levels have broken all-time records on the upper section of Europe's largest inland shipping route.
After a steady and dangerous rise all week on the Elbe in Germany, floods in Dresden appeared to have reached their peak although volunteers continued to place sandbags across the baroque city. Historic buildings in the centre were inundated.
"We hope that the high point has been reached but we can't be sure," said Kai Schulz, spokesman for the Dresden city government.
The weather service forecast light rain on Saturday, but nowhere near the levels earlier in the week that caused record floods in Prague, Dresden and other cultural treasures of Central Europe.
Although many parts of Dresden remained dry, the historic inner city rebuilt after the World War Two firebombing - including architectural landmarks like the Zwinger Palace, the Semper Opera and the Royal Palace - was flooded.
A total of 5,000 people fought the floods in Dresden, where helicopters clatter daily overhead, sirens echo and pumps drone with orange and red hoses snaking out of basements.
"We're pumping out slowly but the Elbe keeps giving back," one fire fighter near the Semper Opera said.
German officials have continued to evacuate nearby towns on the River Elbe around Dresden, the capital of Saxony 200 km (120 miles) south of Berlin. Meissen, famous for its porcelain, was among those affected, officials said.
Officials said plans were going ahead for the evacuation of thousands of residents around Magdeburg and in its eastern sector.
At least 11 people have died in Saxony. Two Dresden men who had ignored orders to evacuate died by drowning on Friday night, Schulz said. Divers recovered their bodies from their basements.
In Dresden, the Elbe rose from a normal summer level of about two metres (6 ft 6.74 in) to 9.4 metres on Saturday, well above the 8.77 metre record of 1845.
The city's mayor estimated the damage at more than 100 million euros (62 million pounds) for Dresden alone, where some 30,000 people were evacuated.
Regions along Europe's flooded rivers face a costly clean-up. In the Czech capital Prague, some residents returned home as waters retreated there, but flooding continued elsewhere in the country and damage estimates were rising rapidly.
Officials said some towns and villages were almost completely devastated.
In the Slovak capital of Bratislava, the river Danube began to recede from its highest level in 50 years.