Germany Braces for More Floods as Wave of Water Passes Through Poland
A massive effort to shore up a rapidly eroding earthen dike kept a flooding river in eastern Germany from swallowing more villages Saturday, but officials warned that another wave of high water was on the way.
“We’ve only won the first battle,” said Brandenburg state Environment Minister Matthias Platzeck in Bad Freienwalde, a town threatened by central Europe’s worst flooding this century.
The rain-swollen Oder River has also caused serious flooding in southwestern Poland, where about 1.6 million acres of land were inundated and tens of thousands of people driven from their homes.
Another round of flood waters passed through the city of Wroclaw overnight, and more rain was predicted. Nevertheless, Polish officials said the flood waters were expected to continue receding.
In eastern Germany, the level of the Oder was stable Saturday, but officials worried about how the wave moving through Poland would affect them when it arrives, probably on Wednesday or Thursday.
About 5,000 people were evacuated as a precaution Friday from a low-lying area of fields and villages south and east of Bad Freienwalde.
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