Germany waits as floods near peak

Thousands of emergency workers are battling day and night to strengthen dykes along the River Oder between Germany and Poland amid fears that the floods which have wreaked havoc for two weeks are about to reach their peak.

Water levels on the Oder stabilised yesterday, but the frail network of dykes north of the city of Frankfurt an der Oder are so badly saturated that they were described by some rescue workers as "like sponges".

The German Agriculture Minister, Mr Jochen Borchert, visited the disaster area yesterday to assess the damage to farmers, while the Chancellor, Dr Helmut Kohl, is expected to visit the region today for the second time within a week. He is interrupting his holiday to make the visit.

Thousands of soldiers piled sandbags on top of the dykes yesterday in an effort to prevent breaches such as those that last week left a number of villages submerged, destroying property and drowning thousands of animals. Soldiers worked frantically near the village of Hohenwutzen, where the 250-year-old dykes are especially weak.

If the dykes break, the fertile, low-lying land behind them, known as "Berlin's vegetable garden" could be flooded within hours. In the areas already abandoned to the flood, vegetables are rotting underwater and tractors are left stranded while wildlife, such as deer, foxes and rabbits, are drowning in huge numbers.

A Brandenburg state official said 80 per cent of cattle and dairy cows and 90 per cent of pigs had been evacuated.

Mr Frank Ehling, the administrator of the Barnim-Oderbruch district of 17 villages, said unemployment in the region was over 20 per cent and that a flood would hit local farmers hard, because they had to take out loans to modernise their farms.

"They have no reserve," he said. "If they lose this year's harvest they will all go broke."

The German government has contacted the European Union, hoping to gain approval for a quick emergency aid programme for local farmers. "We want to tell farmers clearly that they will receive unbureaucratic assistance," Mr Borchert said.

The state government of Brandenburg sought to reassure flood victims yesterday that they will be able to rebuild their lives once the disaster passes. The government promised that all necessary resources would be provided to help repair the flood damage.

Fears that Frankfurt an der Oder might have to be evacuated receded yesterday as water levels stabilised, but all 17,000 inhabitants of Slubice, on the Polish side of the river, have been told to leave their homes. A few thousand have refused, but the authorities made them sign a declaration agreeing that they were staying in the town at their own risk.

Sixty people have died in Poland and 48 in the Czech Republic since the flooding began two weeks ago. The floods were caused by unusually high rainfall in hilly areas - almost two feet of rain in five days - which flowed down into the rivers.

Insurers estimate the damage caused so far in Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic at billions of pounds, but EU aid to the affected areas has so far amounted to only £1.6 million. The EU Commissioner for humanitarian affairs, Ms Emma Bonino, said yesterday that she would consider visiting the region this week.

Even if the floods have reached their peak, as rescue workers hope, most flood victims know that it could be weeks before they return to their homes and many are fearful of what they will find when they do so.