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CNN Live At Daybreak

Flood Ravaged European Nations Bracing For More Rising Water

Aired August 15, 2002 - 05:30   ET

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

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Some flood ravaged European nations are bracing for more rising water and a rising death toll. At least 95 people have died in flooding across communities in Central as well as in Eastern Europe.
Our Gavin Morris is monitoring the situation in Dresden, Germany, and joins us now by phone -- good morning, Gavin.

GAVIN MORRIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Anderson.

Here in Dresden, the focus is very much falling on this city now. It has been flooded for days, but what's happening here is a lot of that water that we've seen in previous days in the Czech Republic and flowing through Prague is headed right this way. They now are expecting a flood peak here in Dresden some time later today. But already the flood waters are rising at the moment.

You weren't going to be seeing me right now, but me and my crew and my satellite truck have been pushed back from an area that was this morning safe.

So things are developing here. We've been out to a hospital this morning. There, they're evacuating all the patients from the hospital by helicopter, by ambulance, by taxi, however. And authorities essentially now are just trying to get everybody out of the way of this flood.

Dresden has never seen a flood of the level they're expecting and they really just don't know how they're going to deal with it -- Anderson.

COOPER: Give us a sense, if you can, I mean how much of the city of Dresden is affected? I mean is everyone's life affected by this? Are large swathes of the city closed down? What does it look like?

MORRIS: Well, the river Elbe runs through the center of Dresden and through the very historic beautiful parts of the city. What's happened is along those areas the water has gone in through underground tunnels and risen up through basements and up through the ground. Then, in more outlying suburbs where there isn't such a river bank, the water has flowed directly over the bank and into suburbs.

So you've got a confluence of those two events, water rising in the center of town and flowing into the suburbs in the outer part of town. So most of the town is affected, though parts of it are still trying to get on with business as normal -- Anderson.

COOPER: All right, Gavin, good luck to you.

Thanks very much for the report.

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