Flood Crisis Buoys Image of Schroeder

Among the most dramatic rescues during the past week of catastrophic flooding in Central Europe might turn out to be that of German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

Much as the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States thrust President Bush into a leadership spotlight that earned him unprecedented approval ratings, Schroeder’s handling of the natural disaster that has inflicted double-digit billions of dollars in damage is being viewed by the German media and commentators as both competent and comforting.

The Social Democratic leader, who was trailing badly in his campaign for reelection before disaster struck, has emerged in rubber boots and rain gear on the ravaged shores of the Elbe and Mulde rivers to reassure Germans that they will get the help they need to rebound.

He has swiftly secured financial aid, vowed a fresh rebuilding of the ex-Communist east and emotionally appealed to all Germans to pull together in this time of national disaster.

Continuing his dynamic engagement in the massive crisis-management effort, Schroeder will be the host here today of an emergency “flood summit” to coordinate relief work with the leaders of other inundated countries--Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

In the campaign for Sept. 22 federal elections, Schroeder’s Social Democrats and their environmentalist Greens partners have been dogged by opposition charges that they’ve done too little to relieve chronic unemployment and have saddled citizens with a steep “eco-tax” on gasoline to discourage driving.

But the floods, blamed by many scientists on global warming from excessive fossil-fuel emissions, have helped legitimize the incumbents’ ecological priorities among many voters now coping with the wrath of Mother Nature.

And with the destructive swells that have forced hundreds of thousands from their homes still making their way north toward other German cities such as Dessau, Magdeburg and Hamburg, reflection on man’s culpability in the worst such flood on record is expected to rise apace with the Elbe’s waters.

The governors of most German states hit by the flooding are members of the opposition Christian Democratic Union and have shown themselves to be as responsive as Schroeder in tackling the devastation. But in a disaster that transcends national as well as state boundaries, German victims have looked for leadership on the international stage and found their chancellor at the center.

Indeed, in seeming confirmation of the electoral uplift Schroeder’s government is getting, conservative challenger Edmund Stoiber, the Bavarian governor, broke off a North Sea island vacation Friday to don his own anorak and waders to visit the crisis regions.

Some media have charged both candidates with cynical self-interest in using the national tragedy as a campaign theme.

“A Flood for the Chancellor,” the weekly Der Spiegel, due out Monday, contends in a headline, while casting Schroeder as a steady hand in the crisis. In contrast, Stoiber’s failure to include any environmental expert in his so-called Competence Team will be viewed as a serious miscalculation, the influential magazine predicts.

“Climate Change for the Chancellor?” the conservative daily Die Welt wondered, noting that the Christian Democrats allied with Stoiber are now on the defensive and the Greens “are hoping for a Renaissance for their key themes.”

Previously at risk of failing to draw even enough votes to be represented in the next Parliament, the Greens have suddenly become the trusted experts on ecological workings. Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, their most popular figure, has been appealing to fellow Germans to take a lesson from the disaster. Environment Minister Juergen Trittin and the Green in charge of agriculture and consumer protection, Renate Kuenast, have emerged as voices of conscience that Germans have long failed to heed.

Meanwhile Saturday, the deluge rolled on.

Fears of an ecological catastrophe at the chemical industrial complex in Bitterfeld intensified after thousands of soldiers and civilian volunteers gave up efforts to steer the surging waters away from the city. The Mulde River, which feeds into the Elbe a few miles farther north, broke through a levee, spilling the muddy, debris-laden deluge across the evacuated city.

Helicopters joined in piling sandbags around the ChemiePark, which sits about 7 feet higher than the city center and may escape serious harm now that the water has worked its way to other low ground.

Elsewhere, all 5,000 residents of Muehlberg, in Brandenburg state, evacuated before a dam burst. In Riesa, just to the south in Saxony state, flood waters washed out a railroad bridge, severing train traffic from Berlin to Dresden and Leipzig.

Farther downriver in the city of Torgau--where U.S. and Soviet soldiers met after defeating the Nazis--15,000 people were evacuated ahead of the next expected inundation. In Magdeburg, the capital of Saxony-Anhalt state, thousands fled their homes to escape the mass of water expected to hit Monday.

In Dresden, where cultural jewels such as the Zwinger Palace and Semper Opera have been deluged, the flood waters finally began receding after reaching 31 feet Friday, five times the river’s normal level. Still, Saxony Interior Minister Horst Rasch warned that “the catastrophe is not over, even if the high point has passed.” And Gov. Georg Milbradt estimated that damage to Dresden alone will cost as much as $5 billion to repair.

European Commission President Romano Prodi will take part in today’s emergency summit and was reported to be preparing promises of at least $1 billion in aid. French President Jacques Chirac has also come to Schroeder’s side in the tragedy to “reiterate my country’s readiness to do all it can to help save lives and come to the rescue of local populations.”

President Bush made a similar promise to Czech President Vaclav Havel to assist that nation in repairing billions in damage.

Bush’s failure to offer solidarity with Schroeder may reflect White House pique over the chancellor’s recent warnings against U.S. military “adventures” against Iraq. But Germans share Schroeder’s view that an attack on Saddam Hussein without U.N. support should be avoided, but that diplomatic oversight is unlikely to hurt the political fortunes of the incumbent.