"The man was one of the town's homeless. A post-mortem will have to decide if he drowned, but it looks very likely," said Zabreh deputy mayor Milan Kratochvil.

In Germany, around 300 people were evacuated from their homes in Saxony's main city, Dresden, Friday night as the rising Elbe threatened to flood the historic centre.

"People will expose themselves to an irresponsible danger if they stay at home," Dresden's deputy mayor warned on Friday night.

In the Czech capital, the natural threat from the Vltava river stabilised Saturday, but a different threat emerged. Prague police disturbed two men in the centre of the city on Friday night trying to dismantle part of the city's aluminium flood barrier, apparently for its scrap metal value. City leaders demanded that the one man caught face exemplary punishment.

Rain and melting snow raised the flood risk in the east and centre of the country. Many inhabitants of the historic eastern city of Olomouc ignored appeals from local authorities to quit their homes in the early hours of Saturday.

About 1,800 people in the most-threatened parts of the city were advised to evacuate their homes shortly after midnight. "Only about 60 people have been evacuated," city spokesman Martin Hala told AFP Saturday.

"They can pray that the water does not rise, but afterwards it will not be a question of evacuation but of rescue," said local fire chief Jiri Glabazen. Regional governor Ivan Kosatik said a state of emergency was declared late Friday for the 100,000 inhabitants of Olomouc and its surrounding area and the town of Litovel.

The Pardubice region, in the east of the country, followed suit on Saturday afternoon. In a news release, the region said a handful of locations at the foot of the Orlicke mountains were threatened by Ticha Orlice river and local councils were unable to cope with the danger.

The Elbe continued to rise, with the situation critical around Melnik, around 30 kilometres (19 miles) north of Prague. The head of the Central Czech region, Petr Bendl, said that 2,000 people might have to be evacuated from the town, where the Elbe and Vltava rivers meet. He announced an emergency situation at Melnik and 15 other locations across the centre of the country late on Saturday. In the two areas worst-hit midweek, south Bohemia and south Moravia, where emergency situations have already been declared, river levels appeared to have stabilised.

The exception was the Luznice river, in south Bohemia, with fresh evacuations Saturday in the small town of Veseli Nad Luznici, adding to around 300 inhabitants who have already fled their homes.

The Czech meteorological office has warned that some areas could enjoy only a temporary reprieve.

It extended its nationwide flood warning Friday until Monday evening, saying all areas of the country were in danger, apart from Prague and the Karlovy Vary region.

In Hungary, floods have disrupted road and rail services in several parts of the country, authorities said Saturday.

related report

Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany Threatened By Floods
Prague, March 31 - Large swathes of the Czech Republic and Slovakia remained on flood alert Friday as forecast rain threatened to exacerbate flooding that has already killed four and forced thousands to evacuate their homes.

The situation was stable in the two worst-hit Czech regions -- south Moravia and south Bohemia -- but levels in the River Elbe remained dangerously high.

Regional governor Jiri Sulc confirmed Friday that the Elbe, currently around 8.4 metres, was expected to climb, and that further evacuations in the city of Usti Nad Labem and its environs could not be ruled out. Around 300 people living near the river embankment at Usti were evacuated on Thursday, while downstream near the German border at Bad-Schandau, around 150 people were forced to leave their homes.

In neighboring Germany, the swollen river threatened to flood the centre of Dresden, although local authorities took comfort from the fact that the rise was slower than during the catastrophic floods of 2002.

In Slovakia firemen warned that levels of the Morava and Danube rivers will have to be monitored closely.

The Slovak interior ministry said Friday that 140 towns and villages, in addition to 1,300 hectares, have been affected thus far, and that river levels were still rising in the east. Around 400 people -- 350 in Brodske, on the banks of the Morava -- have been evacuated thus far.

Czech Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek cut short a visit to Egypt and sought to reassure his countrymen, scarred by the catastrophic floods of 2002 and in 1997.

"At the moment there is no call for serious concern," he said after a special Cabinet meeting Thursday night.

Czech Interior Minister Frantisek Bublan sharply reduced earlier estimates for the number of evacuees, saying that 3,000 people had been forced to leave their homes, of which 2,000 were from Znojmo and its immediate surroundings.

Local authorities had earlier announced that 10,000 persons had been evacuated in Znojmo alone.

"We are a bit more optimistic. It appears that the floodwater may have crested around midnight and it appears to have fallen since," Znojmo town council spokeswoman Anna Maixnerova told AFP Friday morning.

The level of the river Luznice -- which has already flooded hundreds of homes in the Tabor region (centre) -- also stabilised overnight. In Prague, a level-two flood alert remained in place overnight in spite of a slow rise in the level of the Vltava which had already overflowed some embankments.

Level-three is the highest level alert.

The Czech Cabinet agreed Thursday evening to release 380 million koruna (13.26 million euros) to help flood-hit areas.

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