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CNN Live Today

Dresden In Line of Flood Wave

Aired August 15, 2002 - 11:01   ET

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

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Up first this hour on CNN, high water in Europe, floods swells are sweeping north out of the Czech Republic into Germany today. Water is waist-deep in the historic city of Dresden, and crews are rushing to save homes, businesses and thousands of pieces of priceless art treasures.
Our Gaven Morris is in Dresden this morning -- actually, it's afternoon by now, and he is monitoring the situation.

Gavin -- hello.

GAVEN MORRIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Dresden is now a city very much bracing for a flood peak, expected sometime in the next few hours. The river Elbe is headed for a peak, 8.5, maybe 9 meters, city officials still not sure.

The problem is there is what some people are calling a wave of water coming from the Czech Republic. You have seen those floods in Prague. They are coming this way now to join what has already been a swollen river for many days.

If you take look behind me, you can see along what is normally the Promenade along the Elbe is a lot of work still going on. They're sandbagging there. They are still pumping water. That's going on right up and down the bank of this river. What city officials are hoping they can do is hold the river back, if it stays at about 8.5 meters.

Now, they have never dealt with a flood level of that size. The last flood anywhere near this magnitude was maybe 150 years ago, so nobody here has experienced a flood level that big.

What are they doing is taking all of the precautions, they can. A neighborhood called Loubergast (ph) is being evacuated right now. Four hospitals in this city are having their intensive care patients also evacuated, military helicopters, doctors on standby to help in that operation.

The officials, as I say, hoping they have the situation contained, but at the moment, they are still not sure.

Gaven Morris, CNN, reporting from Dresden, Germany.

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