SALZBURG - Three people were killed in Austria Monday and the historic city of Salzburg was declared a disaster zone as the Alpine country's worst flooding in decades shut highways and halted shipping on the Danube river. Emergency services were bracing themselves for further catastrophe overnight as the heavy rain caused what is already the worst floods in living memory.

The floods that were mostly in Lower and Upper Austria (in the northeast) have spread to the entire Austrian territory. Numerous bridges and roads destroyed or damaged by the waters will not be able to be repaired before the end of the year
(Gerhard Koch, spokesman for the Austrian motoring club OeAMTC)

Shipping was halted along the entire length of the Danube river, rail service partially suspended and highways, including a portion of the main link between Vienna and Germany closed as rescuers piled up sandbags against rising waters. A man was drowned when he was surprised by floods while helping bail out a cellar in Hallein in central Austria, said provincial governor Frank Schausberger, while a fireman was killed after falling into a swollen river near Mariapfarr in the same region.

In Upper Austria, an off-duty fireman was buried alive in a mudslide. A 59-year-old German holidaymaker was also left fighting for his life in the central province of Styria after he received a severe head injury in a landslide caused by climbing water levels, firefighters said.

The natural disaster has already caused damage expected to cost the country billions of euros (dollars). Regional telephone and mobile networks collapsed as heavy rain continued to fall late Monday, reported telecommunications operator Telekom Austria. Salzburg, the birthplace of Mozart, saw its worst flooding in 80 years, and police closed bridges across the Salzach river, which stood just centimetres away from breaking its banks and flooding swathes of the historic city centre. Schausberger said the city has been declared a disaster zone.

In nearby Hallein some 1,000 people were cut off by flooding, and in some parts of the town houses were flooded up to first floor level. The northern province of Upper Austria saw dramatic rescue operations as water levels and rainfall reached record highs. Three firemen attempting to rescue people from their flooded homes in Steyr were forced to cling to vegetation until colleagues could rescue them after their dinghy capsized. Steyr has been completely cut off by the flooding and its historic centre submerged in the worst floods for 100 years, with many inhabitants evacuated.

In the village of Pupping bei Eferding, a home for the elderly was cut off by flood waters, its 120 residents fleeing to the building's top storeys. Some 16,000 firemen have been drafted in from across the country alongside thousands of soldiers and volunteers to aid those affected by the disaster. Schools and hotels have been taken over to house thousands of people evacuated from their homes in the north and south of the country, where floods began six days ago.

Experts fear the Danube, which crosses the north of the country, will rise by as much as 10 metres (30 feet), threatening several villages.

Copyright 2002 - AFP & Weatheronline