Floods Roll On in Germany's Sodden Cities

Record flood waters, which have already devastated Prague and Dresden, continued their onslaught on central and eastern Europe on Monday, threatening further German towns as dykes and dams prove unable to withstand the swollen currents.

Meanwhile, the number of flood-related deaths in German rose to 15 and the number still missing to 26.

In the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt, seven dykes burst around the town of Wittenberg alone, sending water cascading into several surrounding villages. More than 40,000 people were evacuated.

In Wittenberg, the historic home of Martin Luther, exhausted citizens spent the night piling up sandbags airlifted in by helicopters in a desperate attempt to shore up the Elbe’s south bank, as divers patched up underwater cracks in the dyke using sand and tarpaulins.

“Vast amounts of water are flooding into the city,” a spokesman for the rescue workers in Wittenberg said. “We are evacuating nearby sites”.

Further upstream in Torgau, the situation remained critical following the bursting of a 60-metre stretch of dam on Saturday. Although the high point of the floods has now passed, there are still fears that the town’s sodden defences may completely succumb to the ongoing pressure of the water masses.

Further evacuations

In Bitterfeld, which was half submerged on Saturday, workers are franctically trying to strengthen the banks of the river Mulde to protect an industrial park containing some 150 chemical plants.

In the state of Brandenburg, thousands of farm animals were removed from farms all over the state and further residents were called to pack their bags and leave their homes.

And in Dresden, despite retreating waters, many of the city’s newer buildings, otherwise spared by the floods, are in danger of becoming severely damaged by rising ground water.

EU aid package

The worst European floods in more than 100 years have engulfed towns and villages from Dresden to Prague and Budapest in the past weeks, killing close to 100, driving people from their homes and disrupting the livelihoods of thousands across Europe.

On Sunday, the European Commission agreed on an aid package at a crisis meeting in Berlin called by German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and attended by leaders from Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria and Commission President Romano Prodi.

European Commission President Romano Prodi said the European Investment Bank would offer stricken countries millions of euros in loans. “This is a moment in which we have to show that true European solidarity exists”, he said.

No exact figure has been put on the value of the package yet, but Germany is expected to receive some 5 billion euros.

In Germany alone, flood damage is estimated to reach some 10 billion euro. Berlin has told the EU that the pressure on its already troubled economy may force it to break the budget constraints imposed under the stability pact regulating the common currency, the euro.

Meanwhile, politicians, backed by daily tabloid "Bild", have called for a one-off solidarity tax of some 15 euro to help the 4.2 million Germany whose livelihoods have been inerrupted by the floods.