Soldiers and residents in southwestern Poland are laying sandbags near swollen rivers around the city of Wroclaw to protect homes and businesses after days of flooding across Central Europe.

Just a week ago, before deadly floods swept through central Europe, the Czech Republic looked on track to become the first country in the region since COVID-19 to pull its budget deficit firmly below the 3% of GDP cap set by European Union rules.

STORY: Bursting their banks and inundating towns - more rivers across central Europe have been unable to deal with a deadly deluge of heavy rain from the worst flooding in at least two decades.And on Monday Poland's government declared a disaster in affected areas and said that it had set aside $260 million to help victims.