Dykes hold back flood waters as Elbe peaks

THE swollen Elbe River peaked early yesterday in the eastern German city of Magdeburg, which was spared a major evacuation effort as dykes held back the floods that have left a trail of devastation upstream.

Authorities considered moving 20,000 people out of vulnerable areas of the city, but decided against the move, confident that the sandbags and dikes would hold back the water.

The river peaked in the early hours at 22ft - nearly 1ft lower than expected - and fell slowly later yesterday.

Residents in the Saxony-Anhalt state capital, 85 miles west of Berlin, had braced themselves for the worst.

About 80,000 people have already been evacuated in eastern Germany because of the floods which have killed at least 109 across Europe.

High flood ramparts helped Budapest, the Hungarian capital, escape largely unscathed as the Danube peaked on Monday at an historic high.

By early yesterday the river’s level in the city had fallen by 16ins. The floods have wiped out or severely damaged scores of roads, railway lines, bridges, stores and private homes in Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

The countries have been left with a massive clean-up and reconstruction bill estimated at 20 billion. With dry weather predicted in Germany and central Europe for the next few days, and only scattered showers over western Hungary, many people are beginning to think about rebuilding.

On Monday, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder that he was delaying tax cuts planned for next year until 2004 to free up 6.8 billion for flood repairs. Authorities in Prague inspected more buildings damaged by flooding from the Vltava River after three collapsed in recent days.

Of 158 houses checked by experts in the low-lying Karlin neighbourhood, 58 were damaged, city hall spokesman Martin Kupka said.

Juergen Trittin, the German environment minister, visited the Czech Republic yesterday to follow up on concerns that a plant storing toxic chemicals could have leaked dioxin, mercury and other deadly substances into the Elbe.

The high Danube waters are expected to hit Yugoslavia in the coming days.

Authorities there are hopeful that a system of embankments and other barriers will be enough to prevent flooding.