This comes after the country experienced record high temperatures of up to 36 degrees in recent weeks.

Flood alarms were triggered around Vienna, in the spa town of Baden just south of the capital and in Krems and St. Poelten, in the province of Lower Austria.

Streets and railways in that province stood under water and had to be closed, several towns were cut off and one house had to be evacuated following a landslide. Over 2,000 firefighters and emergency services were working to pump the water out of houses and cellars.

In the towns of Frankenfels and Annaberg, west of Vienna, 180 litres per square metre of rain fell in just 24 hours, the Austria Press Agency reported.

In Sonntagberg, the river Ybbs which flows into the Danube carried away a bridge holding a gasoline main, causing a "considerable gas leak," according to authorities. Lower Austria's gas provider EVN immediately cut the supply.

Parts of Carinthia and Upper Austria were also flooded following heavy rain on Monday.

But despite fears the Danube might reach the record level of 9.20 metres registered in March 2002, when large parts of Europe were flooded, the water level only went as high as 8.60 metres early Tuesday before falling further to 8.45 metres as the rain abated, the Lower Austrian alert centre said.

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