About 130 families in Elhovo in southeastern Bulgaria were on stand-by to be evacuated, as rain continued in the region and water levels were rising again, Bulgarian National Television (BNT) said on February 17 2010.

Rain fell over most of Bulgaria overnight and continued in many regions. The level of Toundja River in southeastern Bulgaria reached 427cm, with authorities reporting that parts of Elhovo were flooded again. In Yambol, the river reached 461cm.

The Kurdjali and Studen Kladenets dams were not overflowing, but the Ivailovgrad dam continued to spill over.

According to the Bulgarian meteorological service website, February 17 would see a lot of precipitation in most parts of the country. The levels of the Arda and Maritsa rivers in the south of the country were also reported to be "critically high", while a marginal decrease in water levels has been measured in the Kamchia and Ropotamo rivers near the Black Sea coast, the report says.

A steep rise in temperatures was expected on February 17, reaching 19C in places, the average for the country being about 13C. Even at 1500m elevation in the mountains, the mercury is expected to hit 10C in places, which was expected to cause "intensive snow-melting". At 2000m, temperatures were forecast at about 4C.

Rainfall will predominate in the mountains with the exception of the highest parts at between 2500-2900m, where it was expected to snow.

Southeasterly winds will whip the Black Sea coast, as conditions will be cloudy interspersed with rain showers, with temperatures of between 6C and 8C .