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CNN Sunday Morning

Floodwaters Recede in Germany

Aired August 18, 2002 - 07:18   ET

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

CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: In flood-ravaged Germany, the waters there beginning to recede and soon residents will see just how much damage the raging waters have caused there.
Michael Holmes is joining us now from Torgau, Germany with the very latest. Michael, what's the situation?

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Catherine, good morning to you. The situation here in Torgau very tense. The Elbe River flowing swiftly behind me, as you can see. We're right on the edge of the water. The riverbank should be about 80 meters behind me. This river is running seven meters, about 21, 22 feet higher than it should at the moment. Torgau, very historically significant city too.

It was here, a bridge that spanned the river just behind me now in April 1945 where allied and Soviet troops met on the bridge, shook hands, and it was a matter of days later that Adolf Hitler committed suicide and the war, at least here, in Europe ended. So a very important city. About 1,000 residents on the other side of this river have been sandbagging for about 24 hours. And in fact, local officials are calling on people throughout this immediate region to come and lend a hand.

They're worried that the defenses that they've set up along that riverbank. The sandbag defenses could fail and were that to happen, it would be a catastrophe for this very beautiful and very historic city. Further downstream to the north, more concerns about towns down there. There's a village about two kilometers from here where a dyke has broken and floodwaters pouring through there we're told.

Also, Dresden, where we've come from this morning, that's south of here, Dresden, the water is receding, as you said. It peaked at about nine and a half meters. That's nearly 30 feet and it's dropped mere inches in the last 36 hours. So for those waters to recede fully and the full extent of the damage to be known, it's going to take days. The damage bill estimated in Germany, around $50 billion. That's an extremely conservative estimate because most of the damage is still very much under water.

One other thing, the industrial town of Bitterfeld. This was once known as the most polluted place on earth under communist rule. It's a place home to hundreds of industrial and chemical plants and the like and that has also been battling against time to keep the waters out of those chemical areas. Obviously much concern there.

One final thing on a geographical note. Bitterfeld is on the Mulde River, not on the Elbe, but those two rivers join together and there is great fear that when the floodwaters from the Mulde hit the Elbe, officials say there's simply no more room for water in the Elbe and they fear a backwash of water, which would send the water going back up river, which is obviously a horrific thought.

So this crisis far from over, although crests have been reached. It's taking a long (UNINTELLIGIBLE) for the water to dissipate Catherine.

CALLAWAY: All right, thank you. CNN's Michael Holmes in Torgau.

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