Poland's third-largest city Wroclaw was bracing for peaking flood waters on Thursday, with early indications its defences were holding firm, after the worst floods in at least two decades ravaged central Europe this week.

Soldiers and volunteers in southwestern Poland have laid sandbags near swollen rivers around the city of Wrocław to protect homes and businesses after days of flooding across Central Europe. Poland joins Austria, the Czech Republic and Romania in being hard hit by floods following record rains in the region starting last Thursday.