VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Floods in Austria, soaring temperatures in France, gales in Croatia, and Portugal's worst drought in more than a century; this summer's weather is taking its toll on Europe.

As of yesterday, dozens of deaths had been attributed to weather that over the past few weeks has ranged from unbearably hot and dry to chilly with days of prolonged rain.

As emergency crews evacuated a flooded hospital in western Austria, the association of private hospitals in France announced they had opened 8,000 beds for potential heat and drought victims.

Large areas of southern Sweden appeared gripped by the same arid heat wave plaguing residents of Spain, Portugal and France. Military helicopters dumped water on flames consuming thousands of hectares of woodland.

Italy appeared to be the battlefield of the two clashing weather fronts.

Lightning killed an 18-year-old shepherd in the northwestern Valle d'Aosta region as thunderstorms swept the region after a prolonged hot spell that claimed at least 21 lives, most of them elderly.

Hail pummelled crops in northern Italy, damaging fruit trees and vineyards across the region, while rains swept parched fields.

Southern Germany yesterday reported rivers and floods receding after days of heavy rains, while parts of Austria continued battling the threat of inundation.

"There is no sign of relief," said regional government spokesman Franz Michel as emergency crews brought supplies and medication to higher ground from the hospital in Mittersil, Austria, about 80 kilometres (50 miles) south of Salzburg.

In Croatia, gale force winds and heavy rains flooded Dubrovnik's old town, forcing tourists and residents to roll up their trousers as they waded through historic squares.

To the east, authorities declared "critical" situations for 11 Bulgarian communities hit by more than a week of heavy rain that left at least five people dead, large parts of the north and east flooded, and forced the evacuations of hundreds of people.

In Romania, a 10-year-old girl died after she was struck by lightning. Flooding hit 11 counties in western, central and eastern Romania, a government statement said.
Weather experts in Portugal called the arid spell gripping 97 per cent of the country the worst in over a century.

In southern Portugal, some 22,000 people were being supplied daily by water trucks after nine months of below-average rainfall.

Francisco Palma, president of the farmers' association of the southern provinces of Alentejo complained of "very, very difficult times", adding: "Things have never been as bad."

Farmers also were groaning in neighbouring Spain, where the driest winter and spring in more than 60 years had already left reservoirs in some regions 80 per cent empty and rivers down to a third of their volume. Recent government estimates put losses attributable to the drought at nearly euro1.7 billion (over US$2 billion).

In France, Paris authorities have urged the public to drink lots of water and seek refuge in air-conditioned cinemas, supermarkets and museums. Although rain has fallen occasionally in the past weeks, temperatures have sometimes approached 40 degrees Celsius (over 100 degrees Fahrenheit.)

That has led to the French capital and four other regions being placed on "level-3 alert - meaning that elderly people should not be left alone, hospitals' emergency workers should be ready for action and the public should stay tuned to news stations for weather warnings.

A four-tiered weather warning system was introduced last year following a heat wave in 2003 that killed nearly 15,000 people.

"We don't have a catastrophic scenario at the moment," meteorologist Thierry Pointet said yesterday. Still residents and businesses were ordered to use less water in 50 of 96 French districts.

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