The woman slipped and fell into the swollen Struma river near the town of Pernik in western Bulgaria, the Trud newspaper reported.

The Iskar river near Sofia also overflowed its banks, forcing the evacuation of a psychiatric hospital and homes in several suburbs of the capital, the Citizen Protection Agency (CPA) said.

The agency also warned that there might be flooding along the Ogosta river in northwestern Bulgaria on Wednesday.

Four children drowned in the Skut river, also in the northwest, in late May after the region suffered torrential rains.