Central Europe's devastating floods were made much worse by climate change and offer a stark glimpse of the future for the world's fastest-warming continent, scientists say. Storm Boris has ravaged countries including Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania, Austria and Italy, leading to at least 24 deaths and billions of pounds of damage.

A massive floodwave moving across Central Europe is threatening new areas and raising concerns among residents and leaders.

By Kacper Pempel WROCLAW, Poland (Reuters) -Volunteers and emergency personnel worked through the night to fortify the Polish city of Wroclaw against approaching flood waters, while Hungary opened a dam as the prime minister warned a "crucial period" was approaching.

Human-caused climate change doubled the likelihood of the heavy rainfall that caused floods killing 24 people in Central Europe earlier this month, a new flash study found

Geosphere Austria climatologist Marc Olefs said that the fossil fuel industry is to blame for the exacerbation of extreme weather events, including heavy rainfall as seen over Europe over the past couple of weeks.

Prague was putting up flood defences in the city's historic centre on Friday after Czech forecasters expanded a warning for extreme rainfall to areas of the country including the capital, which suffered catastrophic flooding more than 20 years ago.