Posted on 08/16/2002 1:53:48 PM PDT by knighthawk
THE river Elbe has surged to an all-time record high, flooding more districts of the historic city of Dresden as authorities scrambled to evacuate tens of thousands of residents in the worst flooding to hit central Europe in memory.
In the Czech Republic, authorities were counting the cost of the massive flooding as people returned to the homes and the Vlava river receded, revealing the full extent of the damage to lives and landmarks.
The Danube running through the Slovak capital Bratislava also reached a peak of 9.86 metres overnight, topping the previous record before stabilising, Slovak authorities said.
At least 90 people have lost their lives since the weekend as the worst floods in more than a century cascaded across central Europe, leaving a trail of chaos and disaster from the Black Sea to the Baltic.
Officials have tallied up billions of dollars in damage, as surging, rain-swollen rivers hit some of the region's historic, architectural jewels and threatened major chemical plants.
Officials, notably in Prague, warned it might take a month before water levels returned to normal.
In Prague, officials said the Vlatava River had dropped three metres from Wednesday's peak as the city tentatively reopened the main train station, a third bridge to traffic and a few streetcars and city busses.
But southeastern Germany was bracing for the worst, while in Slovakia the Danube hit a 50-year high.
Floodwaters submerged all the dams in Dresden, further swamping streets, homes and historic landmarks, and the Elbe passed the nine-metre record as meteorologists forecast more rain in areas upriver.
South of this Baroque east German city, in Pirna and Heidenau, 30,000 people were ordered out of the Elbe's way as the river broke the 1845 record of 8.77 metres.
Preventive evacuations were made in Muehlberg. Another 20,000 people were on standby awaiting orders in the Saxony-Anhalt capital of Magdeburg, which saw huge traffic jams overnight as hundreds of residents piled belongings into cars and fled.
About 100 kilometres northwest, the industrial city of Bitterfield and its chemical complex were facing danger after a dyke burst on a 500 metre section of the Mulde, a tributary of the Elbe.
Emergency teams evacuated nearby residents overnight and piled sandbags to try to shore up the broken dyke. A spokesman said if water continued rising today, it would hit Bitterfield's huge Bayer chemical plant.
Some 4.2 million Germans have so far been affected by the floods, the government said, with large swathes of German countryside were under water as thousands of troops and other workers raced to save homes and livelihoods all along the Elbe.
"Some areas will have to expect power outages and shortages of drinking water and food due to road and bridge closures," said the head of the regional crisis team here, Karl Bey.
German and US soldiers were called on to help evacuate some 30,000 people from Pirna and Heidenau, as the Elbe spilled over its banks in the late evening. The evacuees were being put up in tents.
Dresden's sumptuous Zwinger palace and Renaissance-style Semper opera house have been flooded, but some 6,000 cultural treasures were taken to safety.
Despite concerns for the budget just weeks away from elections, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has pledged some 400 million euros ($A727 million) in aid for flood victims in this economically depressed former East Germany.
In Prague, large parts of the city centre remained roped off by police and soldiers. But a few dozen residents were able to go back to their homes last night after flood waters spared their neighbourhood, the first of tens of thousands of evacuees to be allowed to return, an official said.
Even though metal dykes had so far protected the Old City, one of Europe's architectural jewels, and the ancient Jewish quarter of Josefov, they were still under threat.
But in the historic centre of Cesky Krumlov, one of the country's best-known cultural heritage sites in southern Bohemia, mayor Antonin Princ appealed for help from the United Nations to repair serious damage caused by the flood.
Culture Minister Pavel Dostal has told reporters he would seek assistance from UNESCO to help repair the Renaissance-era town centre.
Downriver toward the German border, Czech media reported that the Spolana factory had begun leaking chlorine and local residents were put on standby for evacuation, but Czech and German officials later said there was no danger.
"We do not at present believe there is any danger, thank God," said German Environment Minister Juergen Trittin, although Greenpeace warned in May of a potential "disaster" if a flood occurred at the site.
First tests of Elbe water sampled near Dresden have not revealed any toxic substances, Saxony's chief minister Georg Milbradt said.
As the European Commission unlocked funds for emergency aid, bilateral disaster relief from Belgium, France, Germany, Greece and Japan started arriving in the Czech Republic to help more than 200,000 displaced people. The United States has contributed $US50,000 ($A92,000) in emergency aid, the State Department said.
More evacuations were carried out in the northwest of the Czech Republic and in the Slovak capital Bratislava, where a state of emergency had been called and frantic work was underway to hold back the Danube.
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