Flooding eases in Germany after snows melt

Jan 11, 2011, 11:54 GMT

Berlin - Flooding eased in Germany Tuesday after rivers had burst their banks and invaded several valley towns.

At Koblenz, where the Moselle and Rhine rivers merge, the water level sank 30 centimetres, meaning the worst was over. Relieved emergency services said the situation would have been much worse if rain had followed the melting of December's snow.

Streets, riverside buildings and parks were all flooded at Koblenz, where floods have been a way of life for centuries.

Downstream, in Cologne, the Rhine was also falling after cresting in the night.

On another Rhine tributary, the Main, the water overflowed into the town of Wertheim, entering 450 homes.

About 1,000 residents had to move their possessions to upper storeys and wait for the floods to end.

Some 400 metres of aluminium boardwalks above the water allowed residents to move around. Wertheim is fully equipped to cope with floods. Shopkeepers near the river have castors under their self-service shelving so they can move out at short notice.

On the Oder river, the border between Poland and Germany, four boats were continuously breaking ice to prevent ice floes clogging the channel and worsening flooding that has blocked roads.

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