Thousands of Romanians fled their homes overnight and thousands more faced the same fate tonight when the swollen river Danube breached waterlogged dykes and threatened to break through more defenses.
The evacuations dashed hopes that the worst was over as Europe's second-longest river retreated more slowly than expected from its highest levels in a century.
Fed by rain and melting snow, swollen waterways have swamped vast tracts of land in Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia and Hungary this month, driving thousands of people from their homes.
In Romania, the worst-hit country where tens of thousands of hectares are submerged, some 2,800 people moved to high ground overnight after dikes near the southern villages of Bistret, Spantov and Oltina collapsed under the flood water's pressure.
More people were on the move on today with furniture and belongings crammed into army trucks, tractors and horse carts, and authorities said some 4,600 in all were expected to flee in the coming hours.