Czech forecasters issue severe flood warnings

PRAGUE, June 30 (Reuters) The Czech Hydrometeorological Institute issued a severe flood alert for areas near the southern border with Austria and Slovakia today after heavy rains raised rivers to dangerous levels.

The weather service said more rain was on the way during the weekend, and would put further pressure on swollen rivers that have already burst their banks in several areas, some of which were just starting to return to normal after floods in 1997.

It gave the most serious flood warning for the Dyje river in the southeast. The Dyje flows into the Morava river, a tributary of the Danube, on the Slovak and Austrian borders and had already flooded some Austrian villages today.

Some 1,500 houses along the Thaya -- Dyje's Austrian name -- were affected by the flood, a fire service spokesman in the region said, although this number included houses with flooded cellars and only some of them were evacuated.

Worst hit in Austria was the town of Raabs, where the river's level rose by 5 meters last night within two hours, according to a town official quoted on local news agency APA.

Around 3,000 firemen were building barriers, pumping water out of buildings and evacuating residents, the fire service spokesman said.

However, the river's level had started to recede and was not expected to rise again over the weekend, he said.

Czech Television showed dozens of flooded homes and workers working to build sandbag barriers in towns where the rivers -- upstream from the capital, Prague -- pass through.

Melting snow in April caused Czech rivers to overflow in the worst flooding since in 2002.

Reuters SHB GC1926