Dresden floodwaters at all-time high

German authorities evacuated thousands of people near Dresden's historic centre today as floodwaters in the Elbe River reached an all-time high, also spilling into a square close to some of the city's cultural landmarks.

The Elbe - fed by high water that earlier devastated Prague - rose above 29 feet overnight, breaking the previous all-time high of just under 29 feet reached in 1845. Still rising, the river was expected to crest later today.

Authorities began the evacuation of up to 30,000 Dresden residents from their homes in the early hours of today, including one neighbourhood about two miles downstream - the closest yet to the centre with its landmarks like the Church of Our Lady and the Semper Opera.

Already, around 5,000 people have been evacuated in Dresden in recent days as Europe's flooding hit east Germany.

Today, water inundated a city square in front of the opera and the famed Zwinger painting gallery of old masters, both already hit by earlier flooding this week. But no evacuations were planned in the centre for now, Saxony state interior ministry spokesman Stephan Beemelmans said.

Soldiers and emergency crews also rushed to build emergency shelters for about 30,000 people they hoped to clear from their homes today in and around the town of Pirna, 12 miles south of Dresden.

At least 100 people have died in Europe's flooding. Eleven were killed in Germany, but most casualties were in Russia, where the death toll stood at 59 - mostly Russian tourists holidaying on the Black Sea who were swept away by swiftly moving water.

Despite sunny weather yesterday that was forecast to hold for the coming days, German emergency officials evacuated tens of thousands of residents further north in the central eastern city of Magedeburg and in Brandenburg state, surrounding Berlin, where it is feared rain-swollen rivers and tributaries would spill their banks over the weekend.

Residents struggled to barricade the streets surrounding the inner city with sandbags, hoping to save the city's cultural monuments from further water damage. Basements in both the Semper Opera and the Zwinger Gallery museum have been flooded for two days.

To the south east in Europe, the rising Danube raised alarm. It was expected to peak today in Bratislava, the Slovak capital, at a 500-year high. The Hungarian capital Budapest braced for the high water to hit on Sunday. In Austria, where the floods left seven dead, the capital Vienna was spared major flooding as the Danube receded.

Germany's chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, struggling in his campaign for a second term in September 22 elections, spoke of a "national catastrophe" and promised to spearhead a rebuilding effort he said would cost billions of dollars. He did not say from where the money would come.

Waters receded in Prague, where thousands of sandbags kept the raging river from punching through and flooding the historic Czech capital's Old Town.

Czech authorities had to explode five ships on the Elbe that had broken loose and threatened to ram bridges. One man was killed by the flying debris, raising the death toll there to 11.

Czech prime minister Vladimir Spidla said Thursday that 5,000 soldiers would be deployed to help mop up after the devastating floods.

Actor Sir Sean Connery, who was in Prague shooting a film during the height of the flooding on Wednesday, said he was left speechless by the damage.

"I couldn't adequately express the disaster that it is now," he said.

Famed Czech brewery Budejovicky Budvar resumed production of the original Budweiser on Thursday, two days after unprecedented flooding shut down operations, officials said.

Concern grew yesterday over potential environmental disasters, as waters engulfed a chemical plant north of Prague. German authorities also kept a wary eye on a massive chemical complex in Bitterfeld, once the pride of the former East Germany.