Europe - 'The worst floods of all time'

Record floods in central Europe continue to create havoc – Hungary PM Viktor Orban says ‘It is now clear that we are facing the worst floods of all time’

Salon,

9 June, 2013

About 120,000 emergency personnel including firefighters and soldiers were on duty Saturday, working aggressively to contain the most dramatic floods in Germany in a decade. Thousands of residents were still unable to return to their homes, and bridges and streets were impassable in many regions of eastern and southern Germany.

Twenty people reportedly have already died in the floods across central Europe after several days of heavy rains.

German news agency dpa said people in Magdeburg in Saxony-Anhalt were anxiously waiting downstream as the crest of the Elbe river approached Saturday, while residents further upstream were starting to clean up the debris that was left along the river.

In Magdeburg, authorities evacuated a nursing home and turned off electricity in several parts of the city. Where the Saale river meets the Elbe, about 3,000 people had to leave their homes.

High water levels were also reported in Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, while thousands of people in Austria were busy shoveling away mud left by the receding floodwaters of the Danube.

In Hungary, around 2,000 residents of the town of Gyorujfalu northwest of the capital of Budapest were evacuated because authorities were afraid the levees wouldn’t withstand the pressure of the Danube’s waters. Another 980 residents had to leave their homes along the river out of precaution.

The rising waters of the Danube, Europe’s biggest river, were expected to reach Budapest on Monday. The water levels were already at 28.2 feet (8.60 meters) on Saturday and expected to rise to 29.4 feet (8.95 meters) at the peak of the flood — inching close up to the top of the river’s flood fences, which are 30.5 feet (9.30 meters) tall.

In Slovakia, the Danube was still on the rise in the towns of Sturovo and Komarno near the Hungarian border. The situation in Komarno was especially critical as several protective barriers started leaking and volunteers had arrived to reinforce them with sandbags.

In the Czech Republic, the waters were dropping further and clean-up work was under way. However, anti-flood measures were to remain in place as heavy rains and thunderstorms were forecast for the weekend.

Budapest Prepares for Floods as Danube Waters Rise

The crest of the flood-swollen Danube River surged toward the Hungarian capital of Budapest on Friday, while communities along the Elbe in Germany braced for high water as the river churned toward the North Sea.

ABC News,

8 June, 2013

Elsewhere in central Europe, communities were beginning to count the cost of devastating floods that have hit Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Hungary, Slovakia, Poland and the Czech Republic.

At least 19 people have died over the past week, and experts say the economic damage in Germany alone could top €11 billion ($14.59 billion).

The Danube's crest left Austria on Friday and entered Hungary, where Prime Minister Viktor Orban warned that water levels were above the all-time highs.

"It is now certain that we must face the largest-ever flood on the Danube, so we must be prepared for the worst," Orban said in the western city of Gyor, on the Danube.

The Danube crest was expected to reach Budapest on Monday, and Mayor Istvan Tarlos said that in a worst-case scenario up to 55,000 people may need to be evacuated. But he was confident that only the lowest-lying areas of the city would be exposed to the Danube's expanded flow.

Tarlos said the Danube was expected to rise to around 8.95 meters (31 feet) in the downtown area, while the walls along the river and temporary defenses would be able to keep out waters rising to as much as 9.3 meters (30.5 feet).

Farther upstream in Hungary, about 900 people had to leave their homes because of the flood.

In neighboring Slovakia, the situation was critical in the border city of Komarno where the Danube was still rising and was expected to do so till Saturday. Rescuers, soldiers and volunteers have been filling sand bags to reinforce protective barriers.

In the Czech Republic, the government's central crisis committee ordered local authorities to leave all flood protection measures in place because meteorologists have forecast a risk of heavy rains for the next few days and the situation might get worse again.

"The flooding is not over yet," Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas.

In Germany, meanwhile, water levels were stabilizing in the south and east, even as the crest of the Elbe rolled northward.

Authorities in Magdeburg, the state capital of Saxony-Anhalt, reported that water levels in the Elbe were higher than during record floods the region experienced in 2002. Since then, flood defenses have been significantly upgraded.

The German military said some 11,300 soldiers were helping build sandbag barriers and flying helicopters over flood zones to ensure levees and dams were holding.

A 74-year-old man died after he was hit by a vehicle carrying sandbags in the eastern town of Wittenberg. Five other flood-related deaths have been recorded in Germany, ten in the Czech Republic, two in Austria and one each in Slovakia and Switzerland.

A Facebook page has been set up with info on floods in Bavaria - Infoseite - Hochwasser 2013 Bayern