Swaths of Europe have been battered by deadly extreme weather, as rivers threaten to burst their banks in central Europe following torrential rainfall, and wildfires tear through Portugal.

The Polish city of Wroclaw and the German city of Dresden have begun preparations for flooding following a weather disaster that has killed 20 people. DW has the latest.

The mayor of Nysa, Poland, has urged all 44,000 residents to evacuate as severe floods have been battering central Europe over the past few days. Mayor Kolbiarz wrote: "Please evacuate your belongings,

Firefighters tackling deadly wildfires in central and northern Portugal had doused the flames in the Aveiro district, one of the worst-hit, as of Thursday, and were focusing on eight large blazes still raging elsewhere.

Thousands of firefighters continued their efforts to extinguish over 100 wildfires in northern Portugal on Wednesday.