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CNN Live At Daybreak

Soldiers, Volunteers Battle Floodwaters in Germany

Aired August 19, 2002 - 05:32   ET

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

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Volunteers are joining soldiers in the battle against rising flood waters in Germany.
CNN's Michael Holmes is in Berlitz with a live report -- good morning, Michael.

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Carol.

Yes, what you can see behind me is not the Elbe River. It is, in fact, a flood plain and it gives a very good indication of how widespread these floods are. The Elbe River is five kilometers from here, about three miles away. And yet you can see from the trees behind me the depth of the water. It's probably four meters there.

Now, what we're standing on here is called a dike or a levee. And what's been happening in several towns around this area and has been creating a catastrophic situation is even though the river levels have stabilized, in some ceases receding slightly, these levees, these manmade defenses against floods have in several towns failed. There's a town called Wittenburg where seven dikes failed and that town flooded. There was a town we were in the other day called Dachau which has also flooded because a dike failed.

Now, I want you to get an idea of how high these dikes are. That's probably 15 feet or more down to ground level there and it shows you just how much water is on the other side. And what officials are fearing is that animals have burrowed into the dikes to make their homes. The sheer weight of this water and the soaking effect into these dikes, they're worried that this dike, too, will fail, or may fail and flood the town of Berlitz, which is a mere half a kilometer or half a mile from here.

And just down the road there's probably 10,000 sand bags waiting just in case the worst happens -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Yes, I see the people behind you, Michael. Are those townspeople just volunteering to help?

HOLMES: Yes, there's townspeople, police, fire. There are thousands, literally 16,000, I think it is, fire officers on duty around eastern Germany and that's what -- they're standing there like us, waiting, watching, just hoping that this particular dike holds and the town of Berlitz is spared from what would be a complete inundation. And people down there sand bagging, as they are all around Germany.

The cost of this catastrophe, as they call it here, is enormous. The flood waters only just slowing starting to recede from places like Dresden and already they're putting the cost at some $50 billion. And that's before the waters have gone and they can really see the damage -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Unbelievable.

OK, Michael Holmes, thank you very much.

Reporting live from Germany this morning with an update on the horrible flooding in Europe.

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