BISTRET - Seven thousand Romanians were evacuated after a dam on the Danube was breached, raising the danger the swollen river would submerge their low-lying villages.
Officials said rescue teams were working round the clock to mend the dam.
The Danube remains at its highest level in more than a century in the Balkans, but heavy rains and melting snow were expected to further swell Europe's second-largest river after the Volga.
Gendarmes and soldiers rushed thousands of people into trucks in southern villages around Bistret, while some villagers left the area with belongings crammed in horse-drawn carts.
Three thousand people were to be evacuated overnight, authorities said.
Farmland, several ports and villages across the Balkans were already under water and torrential rains were expected to last in Romania until tonight.
About 4700 people were evacuated in the Black Sea state over the past few days, mostly in southern Dolj county and roughly 600 houses were flooded and 170 destroyed.
More than 31,000ha in southern Romania, a fertile region for wheat and maize, are underwater.
Officials said they would continue to submerge farmland to help protect populated areas in the east.
- REUTERS
Villagers flee as dam fails
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