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CNN Live Today

Flood Heavily Damages Historic Prague

Aired August 14, 2002 - 13:01   ET

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

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: First up this hour, a flood for the ages, across a region soaked in history. Sleepy, old cities in central Europe have been invaded by torrents of water. The flooding is being blamed for at least 90 deaths, including scores in western Russia.
And it's not just people at risk; it's centuries' worth of culture.

CNN's Mike Hanna reports from Prague.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE HANNA, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF (on camera): The waters continue to rage through the city of Prague, and authorities still waiting for this flood to reach its crest. At that stage, they're not quite clear what will happen. They hope they have sufficient precautions in place to contain the damage of the flood.

But great damage already caused, as we look across the river towards an area known as the Smaller Quarter, and there you see the River Club Restaurant. This, in the past, ironically enough, has been a swimming pool.

Now, tens of thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes in the area. Many others have come from outlying areas in Prague, areas from the city that have been spared this flood, to look down on the river, to see it raging through the valley of Prague, and also to see the damage that it is reeking.

We can see the force of the water as it comes crushing into the Czech Bridge right next to us here; that water pounding into the statute (ph). Officially, that water is running at a speed of some 5,000 cubic meters a second. That's some 18,000 cubic feet a second.

Now, the officials tell us that that is about the limit to which they can measure the flow of water. It is probably running much faster than that at this stage, and even that is 30 times more powerful than it runs normally at this time of the year.

So the situation is intense. The water is continuing to rise. And as I say, tens of thousands of people evacuated. At least 10 people killed in these floods in various parts of the Czech Republic.

But also we're told two among the animal population of the city at the zoo, the Czech Zoo, there, a number of animals were safely evacuated in the course of the past 24 hours. One of them that they attempted to evacuate, a 35-year-old Indian elephant, they could not move this elephant from his enclosure. They had to kill the elephant on the spot and put him down. A sad task for veterinary (ph) officials, but a little tragedy in the grand scheme of things.

As the people of Prague continue to attempt to protect the fantastic historical heritage of the city, trying to contain the damage, hoping that when the crest hits, the damage will be kept to a minimum.

Mike Hanna, CNN, Prague.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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