Several dead, missing as storm lashes eastern and central Europe

Glucholazy: One person has drowned in Poland and an Austrian fireman has died responding to floods, authorities said Sunday, as Storm Boris lashed cen...

Glucholazy: One person has drowned in Poland and an Austrian fireman has died responding to floods, authorities said Sunday, as Storm Boris lashed central and eastern Europe with torrential rains.

Since Thursday, swathes of Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia have been hit by high winds and unusually fierce rainfall.

The storm had already caused the death of four people in Romania, and thousands have been evacuated from their homes across the continent.

"We have the first confirmed death by drowning, in the Klodzko region" on the Polish-Czech border, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Sunday morning.

Tusk was travelling through the southwest of the country, which has been hit hardest by the floods.