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CNN Live At Daybreak

A Report on Situation in Prague

Aired August 16, 2002 - 05:02   ET

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

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: This could be the worst day of flooding in Dresden, Germany. The Elbe River has reached 29 feet. That is the highest level in more than 150 years and flood waters are still rising. Thirty thousand people have been evacuated so far. New evacuations are under way today. Flooding across Europe has killed at least 100 people.
Across the border from Germany in the Czech Republic, water levels are dropping. Some of the 200,000 evacuees are beginning to go home to view damage from the catastrophic floods.

Mike Hanna joins us from Prague -- good morning, Mike.

MIKE HANNA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, clean up operations are well under way here as the city -- hello, Anderson.

The clean up operations are well under way here as the city struggles to return to normal. And it's going to be a long and hard struggle. First of all, the people, tens of thousands of people were evacuated from their homes, many staying with friends and relatives, a sign of just how intensely this city has pulled together in this time of crisis.

Some, says the city's mayor, may be able to return to their homes within the next 24 hours. But others may wait for up to two to three weeks before being able to move back into their homes that they left as the flood waters were coming down.

Then the basic infrastructure of the city, the main metro line, for example, the B Line running from east to west through the city, is totally closed. Many stations are absolutely flooded and authorities are saying it could take months before this line is operational again. That just adds to the messy traffic jams that the city is experiencing at the moment.

Then, of course, the things like electricity, large areas of the city still without electricity and, say authorities, it will take a while to restore this because several of the circuit stations that are submerged have to be left to dry out naturally once they have been drained, once the water has been pumped out.

Then, of course, this wonderful historical heritage of the city, several buildings of major historical value damaged in the floods. The exact extent of the damage still being ascertained.

So, many, many problems facing this government and not only in Prague. One must remember that a number of villages, both to the south and the north of Prague, have been deeply devastated by this flood. So major, major problems for the government of the Czech Republic, which will be looking to the outside for some kind of financial assistance to rectify the situation in the wake of these devastating floods -- Anderson.

COOPER: Mike, give us a sense, if you can, from where you're standing just, I mean how much of the city is affected. I don't know if it's the kind of thing you can point over your shoulder. But, I mean is -- the whole area we're seeing behind you, are all those areas flooded?

HANNA: Well, that's correct. Behind me over here you have the Old City, which was one of the areas that was intensely affected by the flooding. In part, the efforts to prevent the flooding from moving into the entire Old City were very successful and regarded as such. Off to my left is another area known as the Smaller Quarter. This was an area that was also very, very seriously hit in the flooding.

So, several areas roughly in a curve behind me are the areas that have been most affected. Large parts of that side of the river have still completely shut down. If you can see on the roads behind me on the far side of the river, no traffic, no pedestrians. That's normally bustling, filled with people.

So in total extent, large areas all along the belly through which the river runs have been completely shut down in the wake of these floods and are likely to stay shut down for a couple of days, at least, and in some cases, a number of months -- Anderson.

COOPER: Unbelievable.

Mike Hanna, thanks very much for joining us live from Prague.

We'll bring you another live report on the European floods about 30 minutes from now. We'll look at the devastating situation that is going on in Dresden, Germany. That'll be in about 30 minutes.

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