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Europe struggles with worst floods in decade
Topic Started: 7 Jun 2013, 12:17 AM (64 Views)
skibboy
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06 JUNE 2013

Europe struggles with worst floods in decade

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Volunteers use an inflatable skiff to transport sandbags as the water from river Saale overruns the German town of Calbe, on June 6, 2013. Germany has pushed on with frantic efforts to secure saturated river dykes with sandbags, bracing for a surge of the worst floods in over a decade that have claimed 12 lives and forced mass evacuations across central Europe.

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Graphic of central Europe showing zones hardest hit by severe flooding. Germany has pushed on with frantic efforts to secure saturated river dykes with sandbags, bracing for a surge of the worst floods in over a decade that have claimed 12 lives and forced mass evacuations across central Europe.

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Volunteers use sandbags to build a temporary dam in downtown Budapest, on June 6, 2013. Emergency services and volunteers worked through the night in Hungary as flood waters threatened towns and villages along the Danube, having already caused chaos upstream in Germany and Austria.

AFP - Germany pushed on with frantic efforts to secure saturated river dykes with sandbags Thursday, bracing for a surge of the worst floods in over a decade that have claimed 12 lives and forced mass evacuations across central Europe.

Vast stretches along the Elbe river basin have turned into a sea of brown water in the Czech Republic and downstream in eastern Germany, with only red-tiled roofs sticking out of the muddy water in many abandoned villages and towns.

The picture of devastation was similar along the mighty Danube, which has jumped its banks in Germany's southern Bavaria state and Austria and sparked large-scale disaster preparations in Hungary, where the water was expected to peak in coming days.

In northeast Germany, thousands of volunteers, many organised through social media, firefighters, aid workers and troops have filled millions of sandbags to hold back the torrent which has risen from two to above eight metres (six to above 26 feet).

Thousands worked through the night or kept a nervous watch on flood barriers while recalling dark memories of the 2002 floods that killed scores across central Europe and caused a clean-up bill running to billions of euros (dollars).

Fears were centred on Bitterfeld in Saxony-Anhalt state where two lakes, one higher than the other, loom dangerously close to a city that during the communist East Germany era became notorious as a heavily polluted industrial centre.

Local officials have warned that a breach in the lake defences could spark a "mini-tsunami" that could engulf the city, and officials have twice attempted to blow holes in the lake dyke away from the city, with limited success.

Chancellor Angela Merkel has promised 100 million euros ($130 million) in immediate flood relief across Germany, and Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble promised on Thursday that more money would follow.

Dresden, with more than two million people, said the peak of 8.75 metres was reached on Thursday, with flood waters lapping through the mud-caked living rooms and trashed gardens of thousands of outlying homes.

However, the old inner city -- dubbed the "Jewel Box" for its baroque and rococo churches, opera and buildings -- was secured by flood barriers installed after the even higher 2002 flood.

People also breathed a cautious sigh of relief as water levels eased in Halle, where Elbe tributary the Saale had reached its highest level in 400 years the day before and authorities have urged 30,000 people to flee.

Upstream in the Czech Republic -- where five days of flooding killed at least eight people and forced some 20,000 evacuations -- rescue workers in rubber dinghies were supplying isolated families who lack drinking water, power or gas.

In the industrial centre of Usti nad Labem near the German border, where 11,000 people were told to evacuate, looters targeted empty homes and businesses, and a waiter at a pub-restaurant told how he came face to face with three robbers at night.

"I entered the corridor and got a blow. They broke my nose, my side is sore and there's something wrong with my ribs," Ladislav Kratochvil told the DNES daily.

The capital Prague held up well thanks to 17 kilometres of temporary aluminium barriers, and city trains were running again, but people in Usti bemoaned their poorer flood defences.

"It's a shame. If they were a metre higher, it would have been enough," a police officer told the DNES. "It went fast, the water rose really quickly."

In Austria, where two people have died in the floods, the Danube town of Korneuburg just north of Vienna reported an all-time record river level of 8.06 metres.

In nearby Nussdorf a river cruise ship with some 120 tourists onboard was stranded in the middle of the river Thursday, an AFP photographer witnessed.

Down the Danube in Hungary, preparations moved into high gear to prepare Budapest for the wall of water coming along one of Europe's longest waterways which empties into the Black Sea in a delta in Romania and Ukraine.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban has warned large-scale evacuations were likely because of "a real threat to human life" but has pledged that "with good cooperation, we can protect everyone".

An "anti-catastrophe team" with 10,000 volunteers and close to 12,000 police and troops was on stand-by, while some 300 people had been evacuated so far.

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skibboy
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6 June 2013 Last updated at 21:28 GMT

Dresden centre spared as floods ravage Germany

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An army of volunteers has been fighting to hold the waters back

The River Elbe has crested in the German city of Dresden, flooding wide areas but sparing the historic centre.

People had worked frantically to shore up defences as the river peaked nearly 7m (22 feet) above its normal level.

It is one of many German cities battling severe floods, which have killed at least 15 people across central Europe.

Tens of thousands have been evacuated and areas further downstream are bracing for the arrival of high waters.

Dresden in the state of Saxony was badly hit by floods in 2002 but this time defences appear to have saved historic buildings including the cathedral and opera house.

Thousands of emergency personnel and residents worked through the night to fill sand bags and build up flood barriers.

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Volunteers race to fill sandbags as waters rise

The same scene was repeated along the Elbe, where huge areas have been inundated.

Latest fears are focused on the cities of Bitterfeld and Halle.

Chancellor Angela Merkel visited Bitterfeld on Thursday and promised further emergency aid.

The situation also remains serious in Deggendorf on the River Danube in Bavaria, where levees burst on Wednesday.

The Danube peaked on Thursday in the Slovak capital Bratislava, where the main flood defences held firm.

High water in the Hungarian capital Budapest is expected on Monday.

Upstream along the Elbe in the Czech Republic, huge areas remain under water and emergency workers are using boats to get supplies to people cut off.

As a result of the flooding, three people have died in Germany, eight in the Czech Republic and four in Austria, according to an EU status report.

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