The local government put the army on flood alert as many villages came under nearly 2 metres (7 feet) of water.

The government had yet to assess the damage, but there were no reports of any human casualties.

"The situation is much worse than the authorities had been aware of," deputy Environment Minister Lucia Varga said after she was flown in a helicopter over the affected regions.

Forecasters said bad weather was likely to continue at the weekend and that people should be on the lookout for possible landslides.

The government granted 5.6 billion lei ($202,200) in emergency food and basic supplies to 2,000 villagers who had been evacuated.

But many others, risking their lives, preferred to sleep in the lofts of their clay-built houses for fear of looting.

In the city of Arad, near the border with Hungary, hundreds of communist-era apartment blocks and streets were flooded and stranded residents used rubber boats to get around.