2005 European floods river, road and railway, and the river expanded to fill the entire gorge. This stranded thousands of tourists in the village, and the only way out was by helicopter or by crossing one of the high Alpine passes. The Tyrol and Vorarlberg states of Austria saw many areas cut off by flooded roads. The lower part of the Rhine overflowed, affecting the Swiss Graubünden Canton, as well as parts of Vorarlberg. The river Danube and its tributaries overflowed in many places, flooding parts of Germany, Bavaria in particular. Several floodings and landslides were reported in Lower Austria and Styria. The
Burgenland 1990 Burgenland regained its traditional role as a bridge between the western and eastern parts of Central Europe. Cross-border links were strengthened when Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia joined the European Union in 2004. All three countries became part of the Schengen zone in late 2007 when border controls finally ceased to exist in the region. Burgenland has notable Croatian (29,000–45,000) and Hungarian (5,000–15,000) populations. The Croats arrived after the devastating Ottoman war in 1532, when the Ottoman army destroyed some settlements in their ethnic territory. The emigration in great haste of the Catholic remained population of western Slavonia into the