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Three people were killed after a month's worth of rain in 24 hours caused floods and landslides in northeastern and central Slovenia and southern Austria, authorities said Friday.

Flood alert sirens sounded off in Slovenia's capital, Ljubljana, along with Maribor and Celje, after the country's environment agency put out the highest "red alert" because of the heavy showers that began overnight.

The bodies of two foreign tourists were found in a mountain area and a woman was found in another flooded area, police spokeswoman Maja Adlesic told AFP news agency.

No injuries were reported in Austria.

© Government of SloveniaFlood damage in Slovenia, 04 August 2023.

© PGD MengesFirefighters evacuated children from a kindergarten in the town of Menges.

The death toll from days of heavy rains and flooding in Slovenia has climbed to six, police said Monday (7 August), as clean-up operations continued with help from neighbouring countries.

Prime Minister Robert Golob has described the torrential rains and severe flooding that hit the Alpine country of two million as its worst natural disaster since independence three decades ago.

Flash floods and landslides that began Thursday had submerged large swathes of central and northern Slovenia, cutting off access to villages and disrupting traffic.

On Sunday, emergency workers recovered the body of a 35-year-old man in a river near the village of Mirna Perc in the east.

Another man, who was taking part in the clean-up operations, was found dead after falling into a cesspit near the town of Kamnik close to Ljubljana, police said.

The bodies of two Slovenians and two Dutch citizens had been found earlier.

On Monday, rescue workers tried to reopen roads to the most remote or isolated places, while assessing damages which the government has said could exceed half a billion euros.

According to public radio, civil protection authorities were keeping an eye on numerous flood-hit areas where landslides could threaten infrastructure and houses.

Harrowing accounts have emerged of rescue workers and volunteers helping to save locals and tourists from the floods, and sheltering them in community halls and other places.

Slovenia, an EU member, has asked for help from the bloc, seeking in particular heavy machinery such as excavators and prefabricated temporary bridges to deal with the aftermath of the flooding.

Slovenia has also asked NATO to provide transport helicopters and soldiers to help with the recovery efforts.

A first truck with humanitarian help and food arrived from Hungary late Sunday, followed by a helicopter, while Croatia provided a military helicopter to help close and secure a broken levee on the Mura River.

China's capital has recorded its heaviest rainfall in at least 140 years over the past few days as remnants of Typhoon Doksuri deluged the region, turning streets into canals where emergency crews used rubber boats to rescue stranded residents.

The city recorded 744.8 millimeters (29.3 inches) of rain between Saturday and Wednesday morning, the Beijing Meteorological Bureau said Wednesday.

Beijing and the surrounding province of Hebei were hit by severe flooding because of the record rainfall, with waters rising to dangerous levels. The rain destroyed roads and knocked out power and even pipes carrying drinking water. It flooded rivers surrounding the capital, leaving cars waterlogged, while lifting others onto bridges meant for pedestrians.

The number of confirmed deaths from the torrential rains around Beijing rose to 21 on Wednesday after the body of a rescuer was recovered. Wang Hong-chun, 41, was with other rescuers in a rubber boat when it flipped over in a rapidly flowing river. Four of her teammates survived.

At least 26 people remain missing from the rains.

Among the hardest hit areas is Zhuozhou, a small city in Hebei province that borders Beijing's southwest. On Tuesday night, police there issued a plea on social media for lights to assist with rescue work.

Rescue teams traversed the flooded city in rubber boats as they evacuated residents who were stuck in their homes without running water, gas or electricity since Tuesday afternoon.

"I didn't think it would be that severe, I thought it was just a little bit of water and that it would recede," said 54-year-old Wang Huiying. She ended up spending the night on the third floor of her building as the water seeped into the first floor, which holds her steamed bread shop. All the machinery is now underwater.

It's unknown how many people are trapped in flood-stricken areas in the city and surrounding villages. Rescue teams from other provinces came to Zhuozhou to assist with evacuations.

"We have to grasp every second, every minute to save people," said Zhong Hongjun, the head of a rescue team from coastal Jiangsu province. Zhong said he had been working since 2 a.m. Wednesday when they arrived, and expects to work into the night. They've rescued about 200 people so far. "A lot of the people we saved are elderly and children," he said.

On Wednesday, waters in Gu'an county in Hebei, which borders Zhuozhou, reached as high as halfway up a pole where a surveillance camera was installed.

Gu'an county resident Liu Jiwen, 58, was evacuated from his village on Tuesday night. "There's nothing we can do. It's natural disaster," he said.

Two other people were trying to pass through the flooded areas to rescue a relative trapped in a nearby village.

Nearly 850,000 people have been relocated, local authorities in Hebei province said.

The previous record for rainfall was in 1891, the Beijing Meteorological Bureau said Wednesday, when the city received 609 millimeters (24 inches) of rain. The earliest precise measurements made by machines are from 1883.

Ma Jun, director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, called the recent rainfall "extreme." Last year's total rainfall in Beijing did not even top 500 millimeters (19.6 inches).

Ma said there should be a review of how cities are planned because some places experience repeat flooding. "We need to avoid building large-scale construction ... in low-lying areas," Ma said.

The record rainfall from Doksuri, now downgraded to a tropical storm, may not be the last. Typhoon Khanun, which lashed Japan on Wednesday, is expected to head toward China later this week. The powerful storm, with surface winds of up to 180 kph (111 mph), may also hit Taiwan before it reaches China.

Thousands of people were evacuated to shelters in schools and other public buildings in suburban Beijing and in nearby cities. The central government is disbursing 44 million yuan ($6.1 million) for disaster relief in affected provinces.

The severity of the flooding took the Chinese capital by surprise. Beijing usually has dry summers but had a stretch of record-breaking heat this year.