"We are facing the worst floods of all time," said PM Viktor Orban.

 

Europe's second-longest river is set to hit unprecedented¹ levels in the capital Budapest in the next few days.

 

A state of emergency has been declared, and thousands of volunteers have been working to reinforce the banks of the swelling² river.

 

Water levels are set to reach 8.85m (29ft), some 25cm (10in) higher than the Danube's previous record high in 2006.

 

Emergency workers have set up camps along the river as residents packed sandbags around their homes amid an atmosphere of concerned expectation, says the BBC's Nick Thorpe in Budapest.

 

Kristalina Georgieva, the EU Commissioner³ for International Co-operation, Humanitarian⁴ Aid and Crisis Response, tweeted: "Hungary well prepared for highest ever measured water levels on Danube. We are monitoring & ready to assist."

 

Mr Orban, who spent the night at a military barracks in the flooded western city of Gyor, said recent dry weather in Austria and Germany, as well as a hot forecast for Hungary over the weekend, gave reason to hope that Europe's worst river floods for more than a decade could soon be over.

 

"The fact is that along the border (where the Danube lies between Hungary and Slovakia) the water level is already above the highest level ever measured," he added.

 

Budapest Mayor Istvan Tarlos said that in a worst-case scenario⁵ up to 55,000 people may need to be evacuated⁶. 

 

However, he said he was confident that only the lowest-lying areas would be exposed to the river's expanded flow.

 

Nine hundred people have already had to evacuate⁷ their homes upstream, the Associated Press news agency reports.

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