Prague braces for flood
Prague braced for flooding today and 10,000 people were evacuated from their homes in a south-eastern town as rivers, swollen by rain and melting snow, rose to dangerous levels.
More than 1,000 people were evacuated from several German towns along the border with the Czech Republic, authorities there said.
Czech Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek announced he was cutting short a visit to Egypt to return home, and called an emergency session of his Cabinet for tonight.
Authorities have been anxious to prevent a repetition of the August 2002 flooding, which devastated a large part of the country, killed at least 16 people and caused around £2bn (€2.9bn) in damage.
Anti-flood barriers were erected throughout the capital, and about 1,500 people on the city’s outskirts were prepared for possible evacuation, Prague Mayor Pavel Bem said, hours before the Vltava River level was expected to peak.
Rising water forced some 20 people to evacuate Prague’s Zbraslav neighbourhood, on the southern outskirts, the City Hall said.
Overnight, 10,000 people were forced to leave their homes in the south-eastern town of Znojmo and 14 nearby villages, and two border crossings to Austria were closed as the Dyje River rose to dangerous levels, regional authorities said.
A dam on the Dyje was already overflowing this morning, and authorities were expecting the flood to reach the town later in the day, the city’s spokeswoman Anna Maixnerova said.
The situation in was stable in Znojmo this afternoon, but authorities expected the river to start rising again as it began to rain, she said.
Meteorologists predicted rain throughout the country overnight.
In the north-west, the Elbe River overflowed its banks, disrupting public transport in the town of Usti nad Labem.
Mayor Petr Gandalovic ordered the evacuation of some 250 residents, spokesman Milan Knotek said.
The Elbe’s water level was at more than 23 feet this morning in Usti nad Labem, up from the usual 6’6”.
Authorities expected the river to peak at some 28’ tomorrow night.
Evacuation also began in the town of Hrensko at the border with Germany, the CTK news agency reported.
The Spolana chemical factory on the Elbe in Neratovice, some 18 miles north of Prague, halted production this morning to prevent chemicals from spilling into the river.
On the German side, families were moved from their homes along the Elbe, local government spokeswoman Annette Hoerichs said.
Hoerichs said the river was still rising, but said there was no danger of a repeat of the catastrophic flooding that hit the city of Dresden and the surrounding region in 2002.
In the neighbouring Slovakia floods have affected some 123 towns, the TASR news agency reported.
At least 382 people were evacuated, it said.
