In Romania, a woman of 54 was drowned after heavy rains battered the south of the country and her 18-month-old grandson was missing, probably swept away by flood waters.

Three other people, two women and a man, were drowned in the same area when a dam above their village gave way, flooding dozens of houses.

Two coal miners were killed by lightning strikes in the southwest and two others injured.

Torrential weekend downpours damaged more than 2,500 houses, according to the interior ministry, and cut roads and damaged bridges in many places.

Two helicopters and hundreds of troops and police have been mobilised to rescue people stranded by floodwaters.

According to Bulgarian radio a couple and a man were killed by lightning strikes in two separate incidents in the south of the country and a fourth man also died after being hit by lightning in the east of the country while repairing his roof.

On Sunday heavy rainfall cut the railway to the Black Sea port of Varna and a dam in the north overflowed, drowning animals, the Bulgarian news agency BTA reported.

About 650 people had to be evacuated when a dam broke and dozens of houses were damaged.