THE death toll from the worst floods in Central Europe for a century reached at least 42 yesterday as military helicopters scrambled to rescue stranded tourists and residents.

After a week of torrential rain, rivers and lakes have burst their banks from Berne to Bucharest, cutting off roads, power and communication links to hundreds of communities. Helicopters flew in emergency food and drinking water and rescued hundreds of people stranded on balconies, rooftops and from cars washed away by the flood waters.

The death toll was expected to rise further as rescuers reached communities where people had been trapped for days in their homes or were swept away down swollen rivers. Romania has been the worst hit since torrential rain began to lash Europe ten days ago, followed by Austria, Bulgaria and Switzerland. By last night 31 people had been confirmed as having drowned in Romania. In some parts of the country rescue workers reported waves 4m (13ft) high.

In Switzerland, where four people have died, cows as well as people were airlifted to safety as lakes and rivers burst their banks. Hundreds of residents were plucked from rooftops in Berne.

In Austria exhausted householders in the western provinces of Vorarlberg and Tyrol began clearing away mud and debris washed into their homes. The Austrian death toll rose to four yesterday when emergency workers discovered the body of an 81-year-old man whose car was swept away by a river. Emergency services said that they were using helicopters rather than boats because the currents in the swirling floodwaters were too strong.

Doris Ita, the head of Austria’s flood emergency department, said that the waters were beginning to subside but that rescue services remained on alert because more rain was forecast. “It will get worse before it gets better,” a police spokesman said.

In Germany Gerhard Schröder, the Chancellor, promised aid for those affected by flooding in Bavaria. German newspapers speculated that if Herr Schröder was judged to have responded well to the emergency he may gain support in next month’s general election — in an echo of his response to flooding in Saxony before elections in 2002.

In the city of Rosenheim a 28-year-old man who took to a swollen river in a dinghy died.

Meteorologists said that more rain had fallen in Central Switzerland in the past three days than normally fell in the whole of August.

However, much of the drought-hit Iberian peninsula was ablaze with forest fires.

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