The number of flood victims in Germany and Belgium has risen to 157, including 133 in Germany alone, and rescue work is continuing in both countries, coinciding with the Netherlands declaring a state of high alert.
German police said that there were fears of a high death toll, noting that 618 people had been reported injured in the Ahrweiler region in the state of Rhineland, which is the focus of the crisis.
Authorities said they evacuated about 700 residents late on Friday after a dam collapsed in the town of Wassenberg, near Cologne.
"Water levels have stabilized since last night, and it can be said that the situation is stable," Mayor Marcel Maurer said. "It is too early to say the danger has passed, but we are cautiously optimistic."
On Sunday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel is scheduled to visit the flood-hit region in the state of Rhineland (western Germany), to see the dimensions of the worst natural disaster to hit the country in more than 50 years.
In Belgium, the death toll rose to 24, according to the National Crisis Center, which coordinates rescue efforts, as electricity and communications were cut off for entire residential areas in the east of the country.
Emergency services in the Netherlands remained on high alert, as river flooding threatened towns and villages across the southern province of Limburg.