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Wednesday April 5, 3:09 AM Hungary boosts flood defences, toll rises in Central Europe Photo: AFP Click to enlarge PRAGUE (AFP) - Hungary drafted in thousands of troops to bolster the country's flood defences as the death toll from raging rivers and floodwaters mounted in Central Europe. Austria announced its first victim, an 18-month old boy who died Tuesday after he fell into the swollen Duerre Ager river while playing in front of his parents' house near Salzburg, in the west of the country. At least a dozen people have already lost their lives in floods that have hit Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany and Slovakia over the last week. A handful of people are still missing. Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany dispatched 6,000 soldiers, 5,000 police, 1,000 firemen and 815 border guards to some of the worst-hit areas in the country on Tuesday as the Danube climbed to record levels in Budapest. In the Hungarian capital, where a state of emergency was declared Monday, the Danube reached a record 8.48 metres (26.4 feet) on Tuesday and was expected to peak at 8.60 metres (28.3 feet) during the afternoon. The river's record rise has already exceeded the level reached during the catastrophic 2002 floods. Around 25,000 people, half of them volunteers, struggled to maintain flood defences before the reinforcements were announced. Authorities said Tuesday that river levels appeared to be easing in the north of the country, where a state of emergency also applies, together with one in the centre of the country. In Lower Austria a second flood protection barrier broke early Tuesday. Troops and firemen were sent to close the 60 metre (200 foot) breach in the defence against the raging March river. More people were evacuated overnight, after part of the flood defences in nearby Duernkrut gave way on Monday. Fire departments from up to 100 kilometres (60 miles) away were mobilised to help, the spokesman for the regional fire department said. The Czech Republic's swollen River Elbe -- running at more than four times its normal level -- started to fall for the first time in a week on Tuesday, giving hope to thousands of people threatened by flooding and thousands already forced to flee their homes. The level of the river at Usti Nad Labem -- with 100,000 inhabitants, the largest city in the northwest region --- fell by around five centimetres (two inches) to 8.79 metres (29 feet) on Tuesday from its level at midnight Monday, according to the regional water authority. "The level of the Elbe peaked during the night, but we cannot say the danger is over," Usti city council spokesman, Milan Knotek, told AFP. "Those people who have been evacuated will not be allowed back to their homes until the end of the week at the earliest," he added. The Elbe enters the Czech Republic from Poland, loops through the northern part of the country, and then flows into Germany. In eastern Germany, the Elbe also appeared to have stopped rising. In Dresden, devastated by the 2002 floods, the level of the river were stationary at 7.5 metres (25 feet) for several hours, and local authorities did not expect it to rise again. Around 1,000 people have been evacuated from their homes in and around Saxony's main city. But the river continued to rise further downstream around the town of Magdeburg, where it was expected to peak at the weekend. In Slovakia, the situation appeared to have stabilised with river levels falling across the country. The weather forecast for Central Europe is mixed. Czech weather forecasters warned Tuesday that the next day would be crucial, with three centimetres (1.2 inches) of rain expected in the east and hotter weather which could thaw remaining snow.