12 Killed as Poland hit by severe floods

The Vistula River, which runs through the Polish capital Warsaw, burst its banks on Sunday, adding to the flooding that has killed 12 people in the country since last weekend.
The village of Swiniary, near Plock, experienced serious flooding on Sunday after the Vistula burst its banks there. TV footage showed water rising almost to the roofs of some homes.
The Vistula also overflowed its banks in a nonresidential area of Warsaw and local TV footage showed emergency workers and residents piling up sandbags to contain the flooding. For now, it is only affecting one area in Warsaw and authorities said residents were not at immediate risk.
But city officials distributed leaflets to people in high-risk areas telling them to be ready to evacuate on short notice if necessary.
Five helicopters have been brought in to help stranded residents and huge areas of farmland around the city are under water, with only buildings and trees still visible.
Warsaw Mayor Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz ordered schools near the river to stay closed on Monday as a precaution. She said that although the river level is slowly falling, the city will remains at risk through Tuesday.
But many Poles in recent days have refused to evacuate their homes out of fear of looting.
In the western city of Wroclaw, most of one neighbourhood, Kozanow, was covered by water after the Oder River broke its banks in two places on Saturday. There, waters rose more than a yard around multistorey apartment buildings.