The head of the European Commission, Romano Prodi, has arrived in Prague to survey the billions of dollars of damage wrought by the worst floods in 200 years.

The European Union has already pledged about $50m in aid to the Czech Republic - a fraction of the sum required, but welcome all the same.

Aid is being distributed to those affected

Although the situation has eased in Prague and in the south of the country, towns around the Elbe river in the north are being ravaged as the floods surge downstream towards Dresden, in Germany.

And in the south-east, near the borders with Slovakia and Austria, people have been evacuated as the waters rise there.

In the course of the floods, at least 200,000 people have been evacuated across the country and 13 people have died.

Counting the cost

In Prague, people in some districts have been allowed to return home briefly to collect essential belongings.

But many areas of the city remain dangerous and several more buildings are expected to be demolished after a four-storey house collapsed on Thursday.

The waters of the Vltava river have been subsiding by about seven centimetres (2.8 inches) per hour.

Levels have already fallen three metres (9.8 feet) since their highest point on Wednesday.

Zalezlice north of Prague has been totally devastated

Some public transport has resumed but much of the metro remains closed.

Seventeen stations - one third of the total - were flooded and damages to the underground lines alone are expected to reach 2bn ($62.8m) crowns.

Czech Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda said the capital was "comparatively well off" when the damage elsewhere in the country was considered.

The south Bohemian town of Cesky Krumlov - a Unesco world heritage site - has appealed for help. Around half the buildings in the town's historic centre have been flooded.

More to come

The worst is still not over for towns in the north and south-east of the country.

In Zalezlice, north of Prague, 90 of the village's 120 buildings are reportedly damaged.

The town of Terezin - site of a concentration camp memorial - has been completely cut off by the Ohre river.

All towns and villages near the confluence of the Ohre and the Elbe have been evacuated.

Local officials said flood waters had created a massive lake, 12 kilometres (7.5 miles) wide, which stretched 20 km (12.4 miles).

Several industrial plants have been submerged.

There was a brief chlorine leak from the Spolana chemicals plant on Wednesday, but the authorities said it did not pose a serious risk to health.

Three villages were evacuated near the Slovak border as waters continued to rise there.