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.