Thousands of residents of Nysa, in southern Poland, formed a human chain overnight to pass each other sandbags, building a wall along a river embankment to keep the raging waters at bay.

By Janis Laizans NYSA, Poland (Reuters) -Volunteers shored up defences to stem swollen rivers in the Polish city of Nysa on Tuesday, one of dozens of towns and cities across central Europe deluged by devastating floods that have killed at least 19 people.

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.

In south-west Poland, communities were rallying on Tuesday morning to combat severe flooding threatening the town of Nysa. Located about 90 kilometres south of Wrocław, Nysa is at risk as the Nysa Kłodzka river nears the brink of breaching a crucial dyke protecting the town centre.

Residents describe how a human chain in this Polish town created a sandbag wall to fight floods:::: Nysa, Poland:: Grzegorz Grochowski, Local resident:: "You can see here the remaining sandbags, overnight people were carrying the sandbags.

Heavy rains caused severe flooding in Central Europe, affecting countries like Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland, and Romania.

Soldiers have dropped sandbags from military helicopters to reinforce river embankments and evacuated residents as the worst flooding in years spreads across Central Europe

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Massive floods pounded Central Europe on Monday, killing four more people in Poland and one in the Czech Republic.

Poland has declared a state of disaster in the area and set aside 1 billion zlotys ($260.38 million) for flood victims. Overnight, volunteers helped rescue workers heave sandbags to build up the broken embankment around Nysa,

Volunteers and emergency workers raced to secure river banks in the historic Polish city of Wroclaw on Tuesday, as residents elsewhere in central Europe tallied the cost of floods that have wreaked havoc and killed at least 21 people.