GERMANY: RECORD FLOODS THREATEN STRING OF HISTORIC TOWNS ALONG RIVER ELBE AS CENTRAL EUROPEN LEADERS GATHER TO DISCUSS COST OF DISASTER

Record ID: 649192

  • Title: GERMANY: RECORD FLOODS THREATEN STRING OF HISTORIC TOWNS ALONG RIVER ELBE AS CENTRAL EUROPEN LEADERS GATHER TO DISCUSS COST OF DISASTER
  • Date: 19th August 2002
  • Summary: PRETSCH, GERMANY (AUGUST 18, 2002) (REUTERS) 1. SLV PAN GRAVEYARD UNDER WATER AND FLOWERS ON THE GRAVES (3 SHOTS) 0.31 2. SLV PAN HOMES UNDER WATER; SLV SANDBAGS IN STREET AND AT FRONT DOOR (4 SHOTS) 0.57 3. LV PAN WATER COMING TO EDGE OF GRAVEYARD 1.14 GREUDNITZ, GERMANY (AUGUST 18, 2002) (REUTERS) 4. SLV PEOPLE IN KAYAK; SLV CYCLIST DRIVING THROUGH WATER; MV WELLINGTON BOOTS WADING THROUGH WATER; SLV PEOPLE IN WELLINGTON BOOTS WADING THROUGH WATER (4 SHOTS) 1.46 TORGAU, GERMANY (AUGUST 18, 2002) (REUTERS) 5. SLV HELICOPTER PREPARING TO LEAVE WITH SUPPLIES; AV SUPPLIES IN NET BEING CARRIED OFF WITH HELICOPTER 2.17 6. MV RESCUE VOLUNTEERS FILLING BAGS UP WITH SAND; HIGH WATER LEVEL; SLV LINES OF PEOPLE ON EMBANKMENT; SLV MOVING SANDBAGS, BUILDING DEFENCE WALLS; SANDBAG FALLING IN THE WATER (8 SHOTS) 3.14 7. AV HELICOPTER FLYING ABOVE WITH SUPPLIES 3.23 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 3rd September 2002 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: PRETSCH, GREUDNITZ AND TORGAU, GERMANY
  • Country: Germany
  • Reuters ID: LVA47Y8TX9LI4QS7PQIKJWLRLTTA
  • Story Text: Record floods are threatening a string of historic
    towns along the river Elbee as central European leaders
    prepare to meet to discuss the huge costs of the path of
    destruction wrought across the region.

    A graveyard in Pretsch, on the German stretch of the
    river Elbe, was submerged on Sunday (August 18, 2002) as flood
    waters continued to destroy swathes of central Europe,
    claiming at least 91 lives in Germany, Russia, Austria and the
    Czech Republic.

    Tens of thousands have been evacuated and many have lost
    their homes. Some of Europe's great museums, including
    Dresden's Zwinger Palace art gallery, and the city's Semper
    opera house have been forced to close and may need extensive
    repairs.

    While officials wait for the floodwaters to fall before
    they can give fuller damage estimates, German Chancellor
    Gerhard Schroeder will meet leaders from Austria, the Czech
    Republic and Slovakia in Berlin on Sunday. European Commission
    President Romano Prodi is also expected to attend.

    As thousands of residents took a stroll or cycled through
    the water on Sunday morning to take a peak at the record flood
    levels, the scale of the disaster that has befallen them and
    their neighbours is slowly sinking in.

    Britain's Financial Times said on Saturday that Prodi
    would promise Germany more than one billion euros (dollars) in
    financial assistance. Officials in Brussels and Berlin said it
    was too early to speculate on the amount.

    French President Jacques Chirac said in a letter to
    Schroeder: "Germany knows it can count on France's support
    within European institutions in assessing aid measures for the
    regions hit by this tragedy."
    Huge numbers of people have joined in the battle to save
    their towns and cities on the Elbe by making sandbags and
    moving them across the river banks in an attempt to control
    the flow.

    Officials said the situation was also critical in Torgau,
    best known as the place where U.S. and Soviet forces met on
    the Elbe in World War Two.

    The water reached its highpoint there on Sunday after
    about 10,000 people were evacuated, and even the flood crisis
    command centre had to move to higher ground.


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