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

Exceptionally heavy rainfall has been pounding Central Europe and has prompted deadly flooding in the region, with four new deaths reported in Poland, three in Czech Republic and one in Romania.

Watch a view of the scene at the swollen Oder River in Wroclaw on Thursday 19 September as severe flooding causes devastation in Poland. Central Europe is experiencing the worst floods in at least two decades,

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