Nine dead after weekend of Polish, Czech, German floods

Helen Maguire

Warsaw/Prague/Berlin (dpa) – At least nine people died during a weekend of floods in the region straddling Poland, Germany and the Czech Republic, authorities reported Sunday.

Heavy rainfalls swelled rivers in the border regions of the three countries, flooding towns and forcing people to seek refuge on roofs, bridges and in trees.

Three people died in Poland, Interior Minister Jerzy Miller said.  Media identified them as two women, and a fireman who was washed away as he tried to secure a dyke.

A Polish politician and his driver only survived after spending nine hours holding on to a tree after their car was caught up in the floods.

German authorities remained on high alert Sunday and evacuated 1,500 residents, as record-high flood levels were reported on the Neisse River.

Three people had died near the German city of Chemnitz the previous day, as they were caught out by rapidly rising water in a cellar, where they were trying to rescue their washing machines.

Three men also drowned in the north-western Czech Republic over the weekend. Czech media reported that the floods claimed another life late Saturday, but police could not confirm it.

Rescue workers, who have improved their equipment and skills since floods engulfed the region in 2002, used helicopters to bring stranded people to safety.

Thousands of people were evacuated across the region. The southern Polish city of Bogatynia, with 18,000 inhabitants, was almost completely flooded for five hours, causing several houses to collapse.

Polish TV broadcaster TVN24 said a wave crest of a record 7.4 metres had washed through parts of the border city Zgorzelec and had damaged a number of historical buildings.

The Neisse river reached a depth of more than seven metres in the German city of Goerlitz – the highest level since records began in 1912. The normal depth is 1.7 metres.

The river had risen rapidly on Saturday – nearly 4 metres within three hours – after a dam broke across the border in Poland.

Waters began receding in some places on Sunday, but several train lines remained closed because of the high waters and thousands of households were cut off from electricity, officials said.

More rain and thunder storms were predicted across the region.