WARSAW - Hundreds of people were evacuated from areas of Poland and Slovakia as torrential rain caused flooding, local authorities said.

Some 500 people were forced to leave their homes in the southeastern Polish town of Jaslo, mayor Andrzek Czarnecki said on Polish television station TVP.

Several farms and thousands of hectares of agricultural land were flooded when rivers burst their banks.

A flood alert was announced in around 20 townships in the Nowy Sacz and Tarnow regions of southeastern Poland, but by Sunday the situation had eased, the local crisis centre said.

"The waters rose very fast, but they are also going down quickly. Some of the evacuated inhabitants will soon be able to go home," Polish news agency PAP quoted fire service chief Dariusz Hachaj as saying.

Around 50 townships in eastern Slovakia were also affected.

"The situation was most worrying near the towns of Bardejov and Presov," the head of the Presov fire service Viliam Popadic told the media.