Floods brings misery to thousands.

Emergency crews and volunteers struggled to keep embankments and sand barriers from giving way yesterday amid record flooding along the River Danube and its tributaries.

In Romania the government ordered controlled flooding of thousands of acres of farmland to stave off threats to communities along the river.

And thousands of residents faced misery as they were evacuated after a dam collapsed and the river threatened over 130 houses in the town of Rast.

In north-western Bulgaria the Danube flooded most of the industrial zone in the city of Vidin, with water levels soaring to 30 ft. An emergency tent camp for 1,200 people was set up just outside the city.

Some 40% of the nearby Bulgarian port city of Nikopol was under water, threatening to flood pumping stations and cut off fresh water. Hundreds of people have left.

Although the water in Serbia was only rising slightly, in Belgrade located on the confluence of the Sava River and the Danube, low-lying streets were submerged and closed to traffic.

Swollen by the spring snow melt and heavy rains, the Danube, Europe's second longest river, has reached record highs in Serbia, Romania and Bulgaria in the past few days, flooding towns, villages and farmland.