Swollen rivers gushed into the old section of Passau in southeastern Germany on Monday, as water rose in the city to levels not seen in more than five centuries.
The city was one of the worst hit by flooding that has spread across a large area of central Europe in the wake of heavy rainfall in recent days.
At least eight people were reported to have died and nine were missing in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the Czech Republic.
“The situation is extremely dramatic,” Herbert Zillinger, a spokesman for Passau’s crisis centre, told The Associated Press.
Much of the city was inaccessible on foot and the electricity supply was shut down as a precaution, he said. Rescuers were using boats to remove people from flooded parts of the city. Authorities in the afternoon evacuated a prison that was in danger of being flooded, moving 60 inmates to nearby facilities on higher ground.