The swollen Elbe River breached another levee early yesterday on its relentless march toward the North Sea, forcing German authorities to evacuate 10 villages and shut down one of the country’s main railway routes.
As the surge from the Elbe pushed into rural eastern Germany, there was some relief further upstream as the river slipped back from record levels in Magdeburg, the capital of Saxony-Anhalt State.
To the south, the Danube hit a record high on Sunday evening in the Hungarian capital, Budapest, then began to ease back yesterday.
Officials said the city escaped significant damage, and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said soldiers and rescue workers would shift their focus further south.
Weeks of heavy rain this spring have sent the Elbe, the Danube and other rivers such as the Vltava and the Saale overflowing their banks, causing extensive damage in central and southern Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria, Slovakia and Hungary. At least 22 flood-related deaths have been reported.
The German city of Magdeburg grappled over the weekend with water levels more than 5m above normal, but the Elbe retreated by 30cm yesterday. More than 23,000 residents had to leave their homes on Sunday. Officials said an electricity substation in the city was no longer in danger of flooding — which would have made the situation worse by cutting off power to the drainage pumps.
Further downstream, a levee at Fischbeck, west of Berlin, was breached overnight, prompting officials to evacuate 10 villages in the area.
Germany’s national railway said it had to close a bridge near Fischbeck that is used by trains linking Berlin to Cologne, Frankfurt and Amsterdam. Some trains were being diverted via other bridges to the north and south, causing significant delays, and others were canceled.
Soldiers and volunteers have worked frantically over the past week to fill sandbags and reinforce flood defenses across central Europe.
Even with all those efforts, “we should accept that we humans should be humble, that even in the 21st century we don’t completely control nature — that is one lesson from this situation,” Saxony-Anhalt Minister of the Interior Holger Stahlknecht told ZDF television.
He said it was too early to analyze what, if anything, might have been done to prepare better for flooding.
In Budapest, the Danube peaked late on Sunday about 31cm above the previous record, set in 2006.
“The capital city has pulled through the crest of the flood,” Orban said while inspecting areas close to the Danube in northern Budapest.
The Danube widens noticeably below Budapest, reducing the threat of flooding, although Orban said flood walls and other defenses were being strengthened in several locations downriver.
River levels across the Czech Republic were falling yesterday, although thunderstorms during the night caused some local flash floods.
Czech National Police Chief Martin Stovicek said the country’s death toll reached 11 after a Slovak man drowned in a river near Susice.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source