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CNN Live At Daybreak

Germany Cleaning Up After Flooding

Aired August 20, 2002 - 05:28   ET

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

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And now to flood ravaged Germany, where the focus today is on clean up and recovery. But people there are still keeping a worried eye on waterlogged levies and dikes that could break and swamp more villages and towns.
CNN's Michael Holmes is live in Grimma and joins us live with more -- good morning.

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you.

Yes, we're in Grimma, which was devastated by flood waters. They poured through here about a week ago and they only left a matter of a couple of days ago. You can see German efficiency in action here. They're cleaning up this town extremely quickly.

But the bill here is going to be about $25 million alone. How much water came through here? We're going to get Paul, our cameraman, to give you some idea as the work continues around us. On this wall here, there are markings of various floods dating back centuries. Now, as we pan up the wall, now let's bear in mind I'm about 6'4." Where you see 2002, that's where this flood came through. It is nearly to the roof. It's half way up the window of the second floor, an extraordinary amount of water. Just imagine that running through the town.

As I say, 20 houses were destroyed, virtually the whole town damaged in some way and some 400-year-old houses ironically had $35 million worth of restoration done in recent years. They, too, are ruined.

Elsewhere in Germany, the good news is that it seems the peak has come and gone, even further downstream -- Magdeburg, that's come and gone, and it was 20 centimeters lower than expected. In a place like Dresden, three inches an hour, it's dropping.

But what it's leaving behind is this, and it's billions and billions of dollars worth of damage.

COSTELLO: It is unbelievable. And just to imagine the amount of mud and the depth of the mud inside people's homes.

HOLMES: Yes, indeed, we've walked through houses here just in the last couple of hours or so and absolutely. It's mud. It's the smell of flood waters. And one thing that is concerning authorities right up and down the Elbe River is the threat of disease. They've warned people don't touch flood waters. They're worried that dead animals and other debris that's in the river may cause hepatitis. They poured extra chlorine into drinking water. No danger as yet. But they're telling children there's so much chlorine in the water don't drink it if you're a young child. So, yes, there's a lot to be done.

One other interesting fact, we see a lot of this sort of damage, but there's a lot of farmland that was inundated and ruined. Summer crops have been ruined. And also, experts are telling farmers don't go planting anything until we test your soil, because they fear contamination there.

This is going to go on for months and months and months.

COSTELLO: Yes, tough times ahead.

Thank you, Michael Holmes, reporting live from Grimma, Germany this morning.

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