Dozens of homes are underwater in Bulgaria and Greece as Europe continues to battle extreme weather.
Bulgaria's civil defence agency warned that two other, bigger dams were also on the brink of spilling over and residents were urged to prepare for an evacuation. Authorities have started a controlled release of water from the dams to prevent overflow.
Europeans across the continent have been battling more than a week of extreme weather, with thousands still trapped by snow in remote, mountain villages in the Balkans; hundreds - most of them homeless - dead after temperatures hit as low as minus 36 Celsius; and authorities now facing the prospect of flooding caused by melting snow.
A day after the dam burst, the Bulgarian government declared a day of mourning, and streets in the village of Bisser were covered with sticky mud as people returned to their water-logged homes.
At least a dozen houses had collapsed, uprooted trees blocked roads and smashed cars sat abandoned along deserted streets. Veterinary officials were collecting the bodies of dead animals from streets still covered in snow.
Further south, the heavy rain caused the Maritsa River to overflow its banks, leaving dozens of homes under water in the city of Svilengrad near the Greek border. Rescue crews helped transport nearly 100 residents to temporary shelters.
In Greece, rescuers had to help five elderly people escape from their flooded homes after the river Evros burst its banks near the country's northeastern border with Bulgaria. Several elderly residents were also evacuated overnight from another three villages in the area.
Greek civil protection authorities said a 40-year-old woman was drowned by a flash flood on the eastern Aegean Sea island of Symi late on Monday, but no major damage was reported on the island. Heavy snowfall was reported across northern Greece, hampering road traffic and causing some power cuts in remote areas.
The Geneva-based World Meteorological Organization said on Tuesday that an incursion of cold polar air from northern Russia brought extremely low temperatures over large parts of Europe.
The cold air was fed with strong moisture from the central Mediterranean Sea, causing heavy snowfall over parts of southeastern Europe.
Snow also caused headaches further north. Serbian emergency officials say the army will use explosives to break up ice on the Danube and Ibar rivers to try to prevent the possibility of flooding.
A 30-year-old woman died when large pieces of ice and snow collapsed on her in a suburb of the capital, Belgrade.
In Poland, meanwhile, the big freeze has killed another six people in the last 24 hours, the Interior Ministry said in a statement. Ministry spokeswoman Malgorzata Wozniak said on Tuesday that three other people died of asphyxiation with carbon monoxide from heaters they were using in their homes.
Lithuanian officials said 23 people have died so far this year due to sub-freezing temperatures in the tiny Baltic republic of three million.
Italy remained in the grip of a bitter cold spell, with reports of people freezing to death. Low temperatures have even caused parts of the Grand Canal in the lagoon city of Venice to freeze over, while the south of Italy, which usually enjoys a mild climate, has seen snow that has caused power outages to thousands of people.
In Romania, snow and high winds have cut off 127 communities and blocked 237 county roads, and 1,100 people were stranded overnight in two trains.
http://www.skynews.com.au/world/article.aspx?id=716227&vId=
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