Prague_(dpa) _ The Czech Republic Friday reported the 14th victim of flash floods that have tormented Central Europe for over a week.
A 53-year-old man drowned near the village of Bory in central Czech Republic as he was trying to clean a spillway of his pond, a police spokeswoman said. The man went missing on Thursday.
Flash floods fueled by heavy rains have swept through villages and towns across Central Europe with deaths also reported in Austria and Poland.
The Czech Republic, where the raging waters killed the first victim on June 24, has been hardest hit. Damage is estimated to reach at least 5 billion koruny (271 million dollars).
The state-funded clean-up and reconstruction efforts, mostly in the country's north-east, are expected further to burden public finances, already hurting amid the global economic crisis. dpa kza sc
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