Central European floods: A hard lesson learned | The Economist

"IN SPITE of alarming pictures from the Czech capital (see above) improved flood prevention measures look set to hold in Prague and fears of catastrophic flooding are subsiding. Yet elsewhere in the country and the region rivers continued to rise today.

Particularly badly hit is the northern Czech city of Ústí nad Labem, where the river Labe (Elbe in German) peaked overnight on June 5th. The industrial hub of 100,000 sits near the German border and riverside neighbourhoods remain underwater. Some 3,000 people have been evacuated from their homes. All told eight have died and 19,000 evacuated across the country. "Unfortunately it is still not over," said Petr Nečas, the Czech prime minister."

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