Record high waters have ravaged vast swathes of central Europe in the past week, claiming at least 91 lives in Germany, Russia, Austria and the Czech Republic.

Tens of thousands have been evacuated and many have lost their homes. Some of Europe's great museums, including Dresden's Zwinger Palace art gallery, and the city's Semper opera house have been forced to close and may need extensive repairs.

While officials wait for the floodwaters to fall before they can give fuller damage estimates, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder will meet leaders from Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia in Berlin Sunday. European Commission President Romano Prodi is also expected to attend.

Britain's Financial Times said Saturday that Prodi would promise Germany more than one billion euros in financial assistance. Officials in Brussels and Berlin said it was too early to speculate on the amount.

French President Jacques Chirac said in a letter to Schroeder: "Germany knows it can count on France's support within European institutions in assessing aid measures for the regions hit by this tragedy."

Blow to Scarred Dresden

The floods dealt a harsh blow to Dresden, which is still trying to repair the scars of the massive 1945 bombing by US and British planes that destroyed most of the city.

Mayor Ingolf Rossberg said the city was facing its greatest test since then. "This is our most difficult time since February 1945," he said. "But there is now a silver lining in the cloud. We have a falling water level."

Services at the city's cathedral, at the center of a group of historic buildings, went ahead even though water almost surrounded the building. "I am left speechless," priest Klemens Ullmann said after taking a Saturday evening service. "We are crying out to God for help."

Others have asked whether man could have done more to prevent the floods. Schroeder's Social Democrats and his Greens coalition partner, both faring poorly in polls ahead of a September 22 election, say their environmental policies could do more to help than those of their conservative challengers.

Also lying ahead is a political debate about funding the repairs for the formerly communist east of Germany, which has already received massive subsidies since reunification in 1990.

A leading Social Democrat said earlier that extra spending could push Germany's budget deficit above the three percent ceiling allowed under European Union rules. The chief economist of insurer Allianz Group told Sunday's Bild am Sonntag newspaper that the overall flood damage in Germany would amount to over US$10 billion. Dresden's mayor estimated the damage in the hundreds of millions of euros for Dresden alone.

In the Czech Republic, water levels continued to retreat on Saturday from earlier record levels, but thousands of people driven from flooded areas were still unable to return home following the country's largest post-war evacuation.

In Hungary the Danube, swollen by torrential rains, rose rapidly in Budapest, but officials predicted the city's 33-foot high defenses would hold. Water levels have broken all records on the upper section of Europe's largest inland shipping route.

Thousands were evacuated from the industrial town of Bitterfeld in formerly communist East Germany amid fears of an environmental disaster if water from a burst dam reached nearby chemical plants. Officials said the situation was also critical in Torgau, best known as the place where US and Soviet forces met on the Elbe in World War II.

As in many cities on the Elbe, thousands of Dresden citizens volunteered to join 5,000 public service workers and stack sandbags to protect the city against the floodwater, often mixed with sewage.

Thousands of other residents strolled and cycled along the Elbe to see the record water levels, a few even donning swimsuits for sunbathing. One Russian woman brought a canoe, hoping to rescue her favorite rabbit from a flooded shed.

An organ-grinder even set up in business opposite a stack of sandbags, giving one city center square a bizarre carnival atmosphere as firemen nearby continued their clean-up efforts.

(China Daily August 18, 2002)