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CNN Live At Daybreak

Water Reaches Record High in Dresden

Aired August 16, 2002 - 06:02   ET

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

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: We begin this hour in Dresden, Germany, where the Elbe River is rising three inches an hour. It has already surpassed the highest level on record. That was set in 1845. This morning, more people are fleeing their homes. So far, 33,000 residents have had to leave as the city braces for the worst.
With the latest, we turn to Jim Boulden live in Dresden.

Jim -- what's going on?

JIM BOULDEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, good morning.

As you said, it is rising. It continues to rise. In fact, it looks to me like it's rising a bit quicker now, and it's a bit more fanatic.

We'll show you a graphic example of it. We are sitting right here on the edge of the water. Just about two hours ago, we could walk on this pathway to go up that hill, and now, we can no longer walk on that pathway. The water is coming down from the Czech Republic, where they were having bad floods earlier this week, and now, Dresden is being hit very hard.

About an hour ago, one of the bridges was evacuated. A lot of the residents here were on the bridge watching the water, and very quickly, the Red Cross came, the police came, and they moved people off that bridge as this, as you say, rising about three inches an hour.

Behind me is one of the very old buildings here in Dresden. Dresden is full of baroque buildings. Many were destroyed in World War II, but had been getting rebuilt since reunification in 1990, and now, a lot of that water is seeping into their basements.

Behind me you see a museum, and people are very quickly trying to get the water of the basement. They have been moving some of their pieces higher. The other museums across the river have also been trying to move many of their pieces higher. It's a desperate attempt to save some very valuable things here in Dresden.

COOPER: Is there any normal life in Dresden today? I mean, are shops open? Are services available?

BOULDEN: If you go across the street three or four blocks, the restaurants are open, the cafes are open. People are trying to live a normal life. As you can see, it's a beautiful, sunny day. It's not about rain here. It's about rain in the mountains further to the south and in the Czech Republic. It's about rain that came down three or four days ago, and it's now coming through the Elbe River.

So here, it's a nice, warm, sunny day. People are trying to have a normal life. Of course, a lot of people I saw this morning were waking up and looking out their front door. And we saw some people as we came through the street seeing the water for the first time in front of their house. They looked quite sad about that, because they didn't think the water would get that high. And they're looking around and walking around, trying to decide what they're going to do -- Anderson.

COOPER: Unbelievable. Jim Boulden, thanks very much, in Dresden.

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