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CNN Live Today

European Floods Force Prague to Face Toughest Day in Centuries

Aired August 14, 2002 - 10:08   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Now the situation is also dire in Europe. And the seemingly timeless city of Prague, the heart of the Czech Republic, faces what could be its most foreboding day since the Dark Ages. More torrential rains loom there as devastating floodwaters climb as much as six inches per hour.
CNN's Jim Boulden is covering the floods that are washing over four countries, and he joins us now by phone.

Hello, Jim, what's the word right now?

JIM BOULDEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, I can tell you I'm walking through the Jewish Quarter of Prague, it is a ghost town. They have evacuated up to five blocks away from the river. All the shops are closed, makeshift sandbags around. The police are driving through the cities looking for looters, which there aren't any at the moment, but it is very, very quiet because everybody has been evacuated. Many of the hotels here at the water have also been evacuated and people have had to move to higher ground.

The problem is the river was supposed to crest sometime last night, the famous river that runs through Prague underneath all those famous historic bridges, but it has not crested. It continues to rise. We're being told it may peak in the next few hours, but we've been told that for several days now.

The relentless rain in other parts of the country continue to swell the rivers. And this swollen river continues to rise. It's now hitting the bottom of many of these bridges. They're very concerned that some of the historic buildings down by the water may be getting destroyed by this. Unfortunately, they can't get a good look because the water has not started to go down yet.

HARRIS: Well, Jim, let me ask you something, and we've been watching some of the video that's been fed in from Europe over the past few hours and we've been seeing what looked like zoo animals that have not been faring very well and actually been floating down the river in some of these pictures. What do you know about that?

BOULDEN: Yes, unfortunately many people thought Prague was not going to be hit by these waters so even up to 48 hours ago, before an emergency was set in, people were not taking precaution. The zoo was not evacuated. They started moving animals yesterday up to higher ground. Unfortunately, they did not move an elephant and they did not move a hippopotamus. And as the elephant -- the water was rising up to its head, he was beginning to drown; and unfortunately, the officials had to put them down. They had to shoot and kill the elephant and also the hippopotamus; a very sad story. But other animals have been taken to higher ground. Unfortunately, those two animals could not be saved.

HARRIS: Boy oh boy, that's incredible.

Jim Boulden, thank you very much. Jim, be careful, and we'll check back with you later on to get another update and see when that river is going to crest over there.

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