BERLIN, Jan 4: A woman was found drowned in southern Germany on Saturday as both high winds and floods continued to wreak havoc in several parts of the country, police said.

The death, which occurred near the city of Regensburg in the state of Bavaria, took to at least three the number of known fatalities since the bad weather began in the middle of the week.

In the west of the country, at Echternacherbrueck near the border with Luxembourg, a 71-year-old man was reported missing after his car was found empty after being swept away by floods.

Police in Regensburg did not give details on how the woman died. Winds in the region were gusting at up to 200 kilometres (120 miles) per hour, officials said.

Two people were reported killed on Friday — a 13-year-old boy who was in a car hit by a falling tree in the south of the country and an 18-year-old man whose car crashed in heavy snow in the north.

Residents in the west of the country meanwhile were expecting major flooding, although river levels in other parts of the country remained stable or eased.

“We are expecting the flood of the century,” said Angela Steffan, spokesman for the town of Wertheim, which last saw a major flood in 1925 and lies in the Baden Wuerttemberg region.

Water levels in Wertheim, which sits at the confluence of the Main and Tauber rivers, stood at 6.08 meters (yards) Saturday, and were expected to rise to 6.5 meters Sunday and 7 meters Monday, Steffan said.

Authorities Friday issued flood alerts along Germany’s main rivers after heavy rain and melting snows sent water levels surging and two people were killed in accidents blamed on the stormy weather.

In Germany’s fourth largest city Cologne Saturday, the Rhine reached 9.45 meters and was gaining 4 centimetres (1.5 inches) each hour.

“We are expecting a maximum of 9.99 meters Saturday,” said Frank Freikamp of a flood protection center.

The Rhine will spill into Cologne’s historic city center if it reaches a level of 11 meters.

Water levels in east Germany, the site of record-breaking floods last year, were expected to remain stable during the day.

Nevertheless 1,000 residents of the Leubingen village were to be evacuated on Saturday morning as a precautionary measure after the dykes erected along the Unstrut river showed some signs of giving way.

Meanwhile water levels receded elsewhere in Germany.

“The level of the Moselle is decreasing by five centimetres (near two inches) per hour,” said a flood alert center in the Trier region.

COLOGNE: The historic centre of Cologne in Germany on Saturday narrowly escaped flood waters which have submerged swathes of Europe, but swollen rivers threatened some communities in the heart of the continent.