31,000 Germans flee as Elbe bursts dam
Source: Agencies |
June 10, 2013, Monday
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Print Edition
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THOUSANDS of people have been evacuated from their homes in a region of eastern Germany where the Elbe River has flooded and burst through a dam, officials said yesterday.
At least 21 flood-related deaths have been reported in central Europe, as rivers such as the Danube, Elbe and Vlatava have overflowed after a week of heavy rains and caused extensive damage in central and southern Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria, Slovakia and Hungary.
The latest fatality was an 80-year-old man who died of a heart attack in Austria yesterday while cleaning up debris caused by flooding, the German news agency dpa reported.
In Magdeburg, the state capital of Saxony-Anhalt in eastern Germany, more than 23,000 residents fled their homes yesterday afternoon after many streets and buildings were flooded and electricity was cut. The neighborhood of Rothensee was especially hard-hit by the floods of the Elbe River - residents were being evacuated with tanks, trucks and buses.
"Rothensee is filling up like a bathtub," Germany army spokesman Andre Sabzog said.
Around 700 soldiers were trying frantically to build a dam of sandbags around a power substation. A flooding of the substation would not only leave thousands of households without water, but also take out dewatering pumps.
Another 8,000 people had been evacuated from the town of Aken and its neighboring villages after a dam on the Elbe broke on Saturday.
Officials in Saxony-Anhalt state also were investigating what appeared to be a threat to destroy dams. Media outlets received a letter threatening to blow up dams on the Elbe.
At least 21 flood-related deaths have been reported in central Europe, as rivers such as the Danube, Elbe and Vlatava have overflowed after a week of heavy rains and caused extensive damage in central and southern Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria, Slovakia and Hungary.
The latest fatality was an 80-year-old man who died of a heart attack in Austria yesterday while cleaning up debris caused by flooding, the German news agency dpa reported.
In Magdeburg, the state capital of Saxony-Anhalt in eastern Germany, more than 23,000 residents fled their homes yesterday afternoon after many streets and buildings were flooded and electricity was cut. The neighborhood of Rothensee was especially hard-hit by the floods of the Elbe River - residents were being evacuated with tanks, trucks and buses.
"Rothensee is filling up like a bathtub," Germany army spokesman Andre Sabzog said.
Around 700 soldiers were trying frantically to build a dam of sandbags around a power substation. A flooding of the substation would not only leave thousands of households without water, but also take out dewatering pumps.
Another 8,000 people had been evacuated from the town of Aken and its neighboring villages after a dam on the Elbe broke on Saturday.
Officials in Saxony-Anhalt state also were investigating what appeared to be a threat to destroy dams. Media outlets received a letter threatening to blow up dams on the Elbe.
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