Flash floods in eastern Romania have killed eight people, including a child, authorities said Thursday, updating an earlier toll of four dead.

Rescuers saved 330 people from flooded areas overnight and another 45 who were threatened by rising waters, the interior ministry said in a statement.

Hundreds of houses were inundated.

"Heavy downpours led to the rapid rise of the waters of two rivers," the spokeswoman for the eastern Galati region, Petrica Patilea, told AFP.

Among the victims was an eight-year-old girl in the village of Cudalbi who was swept away from her father's arms.

Her body was found 500 metres (yards) from her home, Cudalbi mayor Stefan Drugan told Mediafax news agency.

In the village of Cuca, two men, aged 62 and 85, drowned, while a woman died, possibly from a heart attack.