Nine killed in Polish floods

NOVY SACZ, Poland -- Flooding caused by heavy rain in Southern Poland has killed at least nine people, emergency workers said.

Roads and buildings were flooded this week due to overflowing rivers.

Emergency workers told Reuters news agency on Wednesday that more heavy rains are expected.

The Polish government held a crisis meeting in Warsaw to discuss fears of major population centres being flooded by the Odra and Vistula rivers.

"The current situation is quite severe and we can expect it to get even worse in the next couple of days," Witold Maziarz, spokesman at the national firefighting headquarters told Reuters.

"If we get intense rainfalls and strong winds, as expected, then many more rivers can overflow. We are preparing ourselves for many more operations."

The flooding forced a car off a bridge in the area killing four people on Tuesday, while three more died on Wednesday, Maziarz said.

Authorities did not provide details on the other two deaths, Reuters reported.

More storms were predicted for the next two days over Southern Poland and Czech and Slovak republics.

Towns near the Polish Southern border were badly affected, including the town of Novy Sacz where roads and hundreds of buildings were flooded on Wednesday morning.

Maziarz said that around 800 people had been evacuated from their homes since Tuesday.

According to the PAP news agency, local officials said property damage amounted to hundreds of millions of zlotys (dollars).

If the Odra, which forms the border with Germany, was to overflow it would threaten the lower Silesian capital Wroclaw with a population of 650,000.

With water levels above the danger level, Wroclaw was prepared for floods on Thursday evening and Friday afternoon.

Authorities in Krakow, which has a population of 700,000, predicted that the Vistula would continue rising until Thursday morning, PAP reported.

Farmers in northern Poland have also reported crop damage after the recent rains and storms.

The 1997 floods in Poland killed 55 people and caused $2 billion worth of damage.