Prime Minister Viktor Orban sent 7,000 people, including police officers, soldiers and volunteering prison inmates, to take part in flood control operations along northeast Hungary's Hernad river on Friday.

The premier told reporters after an extraordinary session of the government on Friday evening that he would send another 2,500 people to the region in the coming 24 hours to contain the river.

According to forecasts, an unprecedented flood wave, which has already caused especially serious damage in Slovakia, is expected to arrive in northern Hungary soon, Orban said.

The rivers are expected to exceed record levels by as much as 70 centimetres and the forces deployed so far seem to be insufficient to prevent dam breaks, which necessitated extraordinary measures by the government, he said.

The Hernad is expected to peak in 16 to 24 hours. Eleven localities with 4,000 houses, inhabited by 10,000 people, are in direct danger, Orban said.

The government has declared emergency in six northern and central counties: Szabolcs-Szatmar-Bereg, Borsod-Abauj-Zemplen, Heves, Nograd, Jasz-Nagykun-Szolnok and Pest.

MTI