Flood surge reaches Hamburg

Hitzacker is one of the towns partly flooded by the River Elbe

HAMBURG, Germany -- Firefighters on Friday fished tree trunks and other debris out of the River Elbe, as the flood surge that caused chaos upstream neared the river's mouth at Hamburg.

Meanwhile, authorities in eastern Germany said the receding waters had exposed World War II ammunition.

Also on Friday, the U.S. ambassador to Germany handed over $50,000 to help finance the restoration of Dresden's baroque Zwinger palace museum as the eastern city begins clearing up.

As Dresden and the surrounding state of Saxony picked up the pieces, emergency workers and volunteers further along the Elbe in north-western Germany appeared to be winning their battle to protect already sodden dykes against the flood wave.

IN-DEPTH Special report: Floods ravage Europe    MORE STORIES • Eyewitness: Towns, farmland devastated  • German floods head north  • Prague begins clear-up  • Despair and solidarity    EXTRA INFORMATION Gallery: Images of flooding  Map: Severely hit areas

Authorities in the northern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania ordered new evacuations as the swell headed for the river's mouth near Hamburg.

In Hamburg itself, authorities said the flood waters were expected to stay some 3 metres (10 feet) below the top of the flood defences.

The Saxony state interior ministry in Dresden said on Friday that 26 hand grenades and tank grenades dating back to World War II had been found in private gardens as the flood waters receded.

In the town of Glashuette alone, 15 grenades were destroyed this week, police said.

The death toll from the floods that have raged across central and eastern Europe has risen to at least 114 after a 35-year-old man died near the east German town of Riesa when his vehicle overturned on a flooded road.

The floods severely damaged roads, railway lines, bridges, stores and private homes in Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, leaving a massive clean-up and rebuilding task estimated to cost some 20 billion euros ($19.4 billion).

In the Czech capital, Prague, clean-up crews carted away debris but authorities warned it may take months before life gets back to normal in parts of the city, where the subway remained partly submerged.

Only two buildings in downtown Prague appeared to have suffered serious damage, but repair teams reported that roads and pavements were caving in at a number of points.

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