In Hungary, the Danube peaked at a record high of 8.61 metres at midnight on Tuesday in Budapest. It fell 10 centimetres by Wednesday morning with the same downward trend taking place in Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
A state of emergency remained in force in the Hungarian capital and authorities expect it will take at least a week before the Danube returns to its normal level.
Around 550 people have been evacuated from their homes, mostly in the central district of Pest, and around 12,000 houses and 32,000 people were still threatened by the floods on Wednesday. Parts of the north of the country remained cut off by floodwater.
In the Czech Republic, the Cabinet extended the state of emergency, declared on April 2 in seven of the country's 14 regions, by a further nine days until April 19.
Thousands of people have been forced to leave their homes and many more are still on evacuation standby.
Critical time
Authorities have warned that the next 24 hours will be critical for the flood situation in the sodden country.
Forecast rain and a possible meltdown of snow in the eastern mountains could transform ebbing rivers once again into raging torrents.
In the east, the situation remained critical Wednesday around the village of Novesedly, where floodwater has gathered in a 600 hectare lake on low lying farmland.
All that stands between the still-rising lake and the village is a hastily constructed three metre high barrier. Mayor Frantisek Trefilik said the latest floods are just as bad as the catastrophe of 2002.
Elsewhere, river levels fell slightly across most of the Czech Republic for the second day with critical flood alerts in 23 locations.
In the north of the country, the level of the Elbe near Usti Nad Labem, the biggest city in the region with 100,000 inhabitants, fell to 8.60 metres. It had peaked at around 8.85 metres, four times its normal level, on Monday night.
"The Elbe is subsiding but, unfortunately, only by around one centimeter per hour," Usti Nad Labem spokesman Milan Knotek told AFP. Nevertheless, one of the bridges uniting the two halves of the city might be reopened on Thursday if the fall continues, he said.
Damages bill
The Czech government announced Wednesday that it would earmark A$296.65 million to help individuals, companies and local authorities with flood repairs, although the final bill for damages is still unclear.
In 2002 the floods cost around A$3.378 billion and claimed 17 lives.
The Czech government has said it will also try to obtain European Union funds for flood repairs.
In the east of Austria, near the Slovak border, and in Germany soldiers continued to bolster flood defences. Dykes have been ruptured twice in Lower Austria by the force of the River March, a tributary of the Danube.
The floods claimed their first victim in Austria on Tuesday when an
18-month-old boy was drowned near his home. In Germany, the River Elbe started to fall in Dresden and other towns in Saxony.