Protective barriers have been strengthened at critical points in Budapest as inhabitants wait anxiously for the city's river to peak at record levels.
Hungary has been the latest country to suffer from the worst floods in a decade that have blighted central Europe, and its capital is expected to be the hardest hit.
Speaking just north of Budapest in Esztergom, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said: "The (floods) are approaching the heart of the country now, we can say that the next two days will be decisive."
Warning that the water is only expected to recede slowly next week, Orban said that he will ask the Hungarian parliament on Monday to approve an extension of the state of extreme danger.
Soldiers and volunteers scrambled to protect villages in the west of the country on Friday and Saturday, piling hundreds of sandbags along emergency dykes and evacuating 1,200 people from 28 towns and villages.
The Danube river splits Budapest in two, separating the hilly Buda area that is home to the city's castle and monuments, and the flat urban Pest.
It is expected to peak at 8.95m, breaking the record set in 2006 by 25cm, but authorities have said that the river defences will be high enough to protect the city.
Torrential rain has caused wide scale flooding in Austria, Germany, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, claiming at least 20 lives and forcing tens of thousands of people from their homes.
Germany is still struggling with the devastation around the River Elbe, especially in Magdeburg where water has covered vast outlying areas of the eastern city.
The government is reportedly planning a crisis meeting with the heads of the other countries affected to see how the cost of the disaster can be shared.
One German politician, Gerda Hasselfeldt of the Christian Social Union, told the Leipziger Volkszeitung newspaper that the floods are a "national catastrophe".
Hungary has been the latest country to suffer from the worst floods in a decade that have blighted central Europe, and its capital is expected to be the hardest hit.
Speaking just north of Budapest in Esztergom, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said: "The (floods) are approaching the heart of the country now, we can say that the next two days will be decisive."
Warning that the water is only expected to recede slowly next week, Orban said that he will ask the Hungarian parliament on Monday to approve an extension of the state of extreme danger.
Soldiers and volunteers scrambled to protect villages in the west of the country on Friday and Saturday, piling hundreds of sandbags along emergency dykes and evacuating 1,200 people from 28 towns and villages.
The Danube river splits Budapest in two, separating the hilly Buda area that is home to the city's castle and monuments, and the flat urban Pest.
It is expected to peak at 8.95m, breaking the record set in 2006 by 25cm, but authorities have said that the river defences will be high enough to protect the city.
Torrential rain has caused wide scale flooding in Austria, Germany, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, claiming at least 20 lives and forcing tens of thousands of people from their homes.
Germany is still struggling with the devastation around the River Elbe, especially in Magdeburg where water has covered vast outlying areas of the eastern city.
The government is reportedly planning a crisis meeting with the heads of the other countries affected to see how the cost of the disaster can be shared.
One German politician, Gerda Hasselfeldt of the Christian Social Union, told the Leipziger Volkszeitung newspaper that the floods are a "national catastrophe".
Source : SkyNews
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