Across eastern and central Europe Sunday work began to clean up after the disastrous downpours and flooding that have taken at least 26 lives across the region. The Harghita region in Romania, where 15 lives were lost in a week and 33 people have died since mid-August, was among the hardest-hit.
Some 300 people have been washed out of their homes there and will not be able to return until mid-October, local authorities said.
"About 30 houses have been completely destroyed by the floods and several hundred seriously damaged," the head of the local authority said.
"Reconstruction work cannot begin until the roads have been rebuilt." He said 200 troops were busy clearing away "mud and debris."
The cost to Romania of damage since the start of the month has been put by the interior ministry at 260 million euros (320 million dollars).
In Switzerland, where six people have died in the last week, the 70 inhabitants of Oey-Diemtigen, near Bern, have been told they will have to wait weeks, if not months, before their homes can be lived in again.
In Bern itself about 340 people living in the lower town along the river Aar have been able to go home but many other local residents have had to stay in temporary shelters because electricity and gas supplies have not been restored.
In Austria, where four lives were lost, thousands of troops, fire-fighters and volunteers - among them 100 asylum-seekers - have been cleaning up in the western provinces of Vorarlberg and the Tyrol.Priority is being given to clearing river beds to lessen the risk of future flooding. In most communes electricity supplies and phone lines have been restored.
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