Floods bring death, havoc to large parts of Asia and Europe

Floods bring death, havoc to large parts of Asia and Europe

Agencies
Dhaka/Wittenberg, Germany

Weather officials predicted on Monday that more heavy rains would
soon swell rivers in Asia, threatening fresh floods and
landslides that have already killed at least 1,800 people and
forced millions from their homes.

Large parts of South Asia have been devastated by monsoonal
flooding over the past two months, while low-lying regions in
Thailand, Vietnam and China have also been hit.

Rivers in Bangladesh's Brahmaputra River basin, fed by rains
and floodwaters running down from neighboring India, continued to
rise, the Flood Forecasting and Warning Center said in Dhaka.

Conditions were likely to deteriorate this week as more rain
is expected, the center said.

In South Asia, more than 900 have been killed and 25 million
people displaced or trapped.

In Vietnam, floods caused by two days of heavy rains killed 26
people and inundated tens of thousands of homes in three
provinces in the north of the country and in Hanoi, a floods and
storms control bureau said Monday. In Tuyen Quang, more than
7,000 homes were inundated, a local official said.

In northern Thailand, the overflowing Moei river has damaged
farmlands and forced the evacuation of about 150,000 people, the
Meteorological Department said.

In China, more than 900 have been killed in the past two
months, state media reported. In the central province of Hunan,
108 people have been killed this month.

In Germany, flood waters burst through sodden dykes protecting
the historic eastern German town of Wittenberg on Monday, as
thousands battled to reinforce sagging flood defenses along the
swollen River Elbe.

Water poured into parts of the town after seven dykes burst in
the early hours. Helicopters dropped sandbags into the gaps.
"Vast amounts of water are flooding into the city," said a
spokesman for the rescue workers in Wittenberg, 140 km south of
Berlin.

Officials said 40,000 people had been ordered to evacuate in
the region around the town, where Martin Luther nailed his 95
theses to church doors and split Western Christianity half a
millennium ago. The historic center of Wittenberg, on higher
ground, did not appear to be at immediate risk.

Floods that have swept Central and Eastern Europe in the past
week have driven hundreds of thousands of people from their
homes, ruined harvests, destroyed buildings and roads and killed
at least 97 in Germany, Russia, Austria and the Czech Republic.

While waters receded to reveal damage wrought on the newly
restored Baroque center of Dresden and the Czech capital Prague,
other German towns further downstream braced for the worst.

The floods in Europe have left billions of euros' worth of
devastation in their wake. At a meeting of regional leaders in
Berlin on Sunday, the European Commission agreed on a package of
aid to help pay to repair shattered homes and infrastructure.