Thousands of residents of Nysa, in southern Poland, formed a human chain overnight to pass each other sandbags, building a wall along a river embankment to keep the raging waters at bay.

By Janis Laizans NYSA, Poland (Reuters) -Volunteers shored up defences to stem swollen rivers in the Polish city of Nysa on Tuesday, one of dozens of towns and cities across central Europe deluged by devastating floods that have killed at least 19 people.

Thousands of residents in the south-western Polish town of Nysa rallied on Tuesday to successfully prevent the breaching of a crucial dyke, as severe flooding across Central and Eastern Europe continues to keep emergency forces on edge and the death toll nears 20.

Soldiers and residents in southwestern Poland are laying sandbags near swollen rivers around the city of Wroclaw to protect homes and businesses after days of flooding across Central Europe.

By Janis Laizans and Radovan Stoklasa NYSA, Poland/OSTRAVA, Czech Republic (Reuters) -Poland's historic city of Wroclaw readied buses for possible evacuations on Tuesday and the zoo called for volunteers to protect animals from rising water as the death toll in three days of devastating floods across central Europe rose to 21.

Residents describe how a human chain in this Polish town created a sandbag wall to fight floods:::: Nysa, Poland:: Grzegorz Grochowski, Local resident:: "You can see here the remaining sandbags, overnight people were carrying the sandbags.

Heavy rains caused severe flooding in Central Europe, affecting countries like Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland, and Romania.

Soldiers have dropped sandbags from military helicopters to reinforce river embankments and evacuated residents as the worst flooding in years spreads across Central Europe

Poland has declared a state of disaster in the area and set aside 1 billion zlotys ($260.38 million) for flood victims. Overnight, volunteers helped rescue workers heave sandbags to build up the broken embankment around Nysa,

Volunteers and emergency workers raced to secure river banks in the historic Polish city of Wroclaw on Tuesday, as residents elsewhere in central Europe tallied the cost of floods that have wreaked havoc and killed at least 21 people.

Border areas between the Czech Republic and Poland were hit especially hard by floods over the weekend, with Romania and Austria also affected.