Residents evacuate their home in Longjumeau, south of Paris, France Thursday June 2, 2016. Floods inundating parts of France and Germany have left five people dead and thousands trapped in homes or cars, as rivers have broken their banks from Paris to Bavaria. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Rescue effort

After first responders carried out rescue efforts, evacuating people stranded in their homes and from schools cut off by the floods, emergency personnel and volunteers got to work with the cleanup as mudslides and floods wrecked homes and buildings. The deluge has also wreaked havoc across swathes in the northwest and in the eastern states of Saxony and Thuringia.

Related: Getting into the habit of offering Flood insurance

Earlier in the week, heavy rain and flash floods killed three people in cities including Schwaebisch Gmuend in Baden-Wuerttemberg, Bavaria’s western neighboring state. Residents in the city of Passau, situated at the confluence of the River Danube on the Austrian border, remain on tenterhooks as water levels approach highs. Train and road traffic was disrupted in several areas hit by the floods.

In Hamminkeln, in the Wesel district in Germany’s west close to the Rhine and north of Duisburg, emergency personnel fought to prevent a dike from breaking, according to local media.

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A car is squeezed between houses after the small town was hit by flooding in Simbach am Inn, Germany, Thursday, June 2, 2016. Several people have died. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

Weather warnings

Germany’s DWD national weather service warned of more heavy rain and storms on Thursday moving over northern parts of the country from east to west, causing sudden downpours, hail and squalls. Conditions may abate in southeastern regions, it said, adding that the severe weather will spread toward France overnight.

Paris is bracing for floods as severe weather alerts increased for large portions of the city center and northeastern areas, according to a flood bulletin published by the government at 10 a.m. Five high schools were closed due to heavy rain while emergency repairs were being conducted in five more, local authorities said.

Alert levels may be raised in Paris to the second-highest from the third-highest, French Environment Minister Segolene Royal said in a statement. Cities south of the capital are likely to experience flooding as the River Seine exceeds five meters (16 feet). A news conference on the situation is scheduled for 5 p.m. in Paris to provide an update.

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Wooden blocks lie on front of a store damaged by floods in Simbach am Inn, Germany, Thursday, June 2, 2016. Several people have died in the flooding, which swept through the towns of Simbach am Inn and Triftern, while others have been reported missing. The waters have receded, and disaster relief crews were on the scene helping to clear the wreckage, while helping to prepare for more possible flooding. There are warnings of more storms in the forecast. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

Rail disruptions

In the hardest-hit area of Seine-et-Marne, 3,000 people were transfered to emergency housing and 300 more in the Yvelines district, the Interior Ministry said on Wednesday.

Rail traffic was disrupted on Thursday between the cities of Metz and Luxembourg, in the east, as well as between Paris and Meudon, south of the capital, a spokeswoman for train operator SNCF said by telephone. SNCF also announced on the line’s Twitter account that Paris’s RER C trains would be halted by 4 p.m. as water levels rose under Austerlitz bridge.

The A10 highway to the southwest and more than 20 roads were north of the city of Orleans were also cut off, while minor disruptions occurred on highways A71 and A85, operator Vinci said in a statement.

More photos...

A playground and a pool is flooded by mud and water after the small town was hit by flooding in Simbach am Inn, Germany, Thursday, June 2, 2016. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

Cars emerge in a flooded parking in Souppes Sur Loing, 60 miles south of Paris, Thursday, June 2, 2016. Floods inundating parts of France and Germany have left five people reported dead and thousands trapped in homes or cars, as rivers have broken their banks from Paris to Bavaria. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)

A wooden house damaged by floods in Simbach am Inn, Germany, Thursday, June 2, 2016. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

A car sits under wooden blocks in Simbach am Inn, Germany, Thursday, June 2, 2016. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

Residents evacuate their home in Nemours, 50 miles south of Paris, Thursday, June 2, 2016. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)

People remove mud from a house damaged by floods in Simbach am Inn, Germany, Thursday, June 2, 2016. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

Overflowing embankments are seen near the Eiffel Tower, in Paris, Wednesday, June 1, 2016. Paris City Hall closed roads along the shore of the Seine from the southwest edge of the city to the neighborhood around the Eiffel Tower as the water level has risen 4.3 meters (14 feet 1 inches) higher than usual. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Fire fighters and red cross employee carry a woman from her flooded home after the small town was hit by flooding in Simbach am Inn, Germany, Thursday, June 2, 2016. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

People remove mud from a bakery damaged by floods in Simbach am Inn, Germany, Thursday, June 2, 2016. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

Cars float in the flood waters in Simbach am Inn, Germany, Thursday, June 2, 2016. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

A woman tries to find a way out in a flooded street downtown Longjumeau, south of Paris, Thursday, June 2, 2016. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)

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