Berlin: With deadly floods leaving a trail of destruction in Germany, soldiers on Tuesday dropped huge sandbags from Army helicopters as part of efforts to stem the surging waters of the swollen River Elbe from breaking more dykes.
A sea of muddy brown water has flooded out from two broken dykes in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, forcing the evacuation of thousands of people from their homes.
The situation is stabilising in the flooded village of Fischbeck, near the town of Stendal, which was left largely submerged after a dyke there broke on Sunday, officials said.
The flow of water pouring through a gaping breach nearly 50 metres across is now slowing, and water levels have dropped slightly across the state, Saxony-Anhalt Interior Minister Holger Stahlknecht said today.
About 4,000 German soldiers have been deployed in Saxony-Anhalt, with some deployed to drop the huge bags of sand from the air, media reports said.
Three people died in the state last week in connection with the flooding.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, during a visit yesterday to the town of Wittenberge, in the state of Brandenburg, where residents and rescue workers were bracing for the crest of the floods, said her government`s support for the flood victims will not be limited to an emergency aid of EUR 100 million (USD 130 million) announced a week ago.
"We know very well that the damage will be in the billions," she said after meeting rescue workers and volunteers struggling to strengthen the town`s flood defences.
The Chancellor said she will discuss details of further assistance for those affected by the worst flooding in this country for more than a decade at a meeting with the premiers of the 16 federal states.
The German Chamber of Commerce and Industry and various experts estimate that the economic costs of the current flooding will be at least as much as that of the "flood of the century" in 2002.
The situation in flood-stricken eastern Germany remained critical as the River Elbe threatened to break more dykes after breaching a second dyke in the state of Saxony Anhalt in the early hours yesterday.
The town of Fischbeck and nine nearby villages were inundated, in some areas up to two metres, after flood waters gushed in through a 50-metre long crack in a dyke.
Around 2,500 residents from those areas were evacuated and the authorities have ordered the evacuation of three other nearby villages as a precautionary measure.
Several long-distance train services between Berlin and various other cities were severely disrupted due to the flood.
PTI
