Floods Poland

Heavy flooding and deadly lightning strikes gripped much of central and southern Poland, where at least 11 people have died as a result of storms this week, officials said. Among the latest victims were a young man and woman killed by lightning as they sought shelter under a tree in Warsaw, police said. In the Ostrowiec Swietokrzyski region, a woman and her child drowned and a young man was killed by lightning.

Thousands of workers scrambled to reinforce dikes with sandbags and evacuate villages Monday ahead of a 65-mile-long flood wave coursing down Poland's largest river. The brown waters of the Vistula rose above alert level in the capital, Warsaw, flooding beaches, gardens and sports centers inside the city's dikes. Emergency crews were on alert and posted fire engines and boats near possible weak points--including the Warsaw Zoo and a promenade--as the water crept higher.

A massive effort to shore up a rapidly eroding earthen dike kept a flooding river in eastern Germany from swallowing more villages Saturday, but officials warned that another wave of high water was on the way. "We've only won the first battle," said Brandenburg state Environment Minister Matthias Platzeck in Bad Freienwalde, a town threatened by central Europe's worst flooding this century. The rain-swollen Oder River has also caused serious flooding in southwestern Poland, where about 1.

Hundreds of people were evacuated from six villages as flood waters that had swamped much of southern Poland overwhelmed dikes, emergency workers said. About 25 people have been killed by flooding and violent storms in Poland this month, including 12 since the situation worsened in the south last week. Thousands have been forced from their homes.

Deadly rain that has swollen rivers and swallowed people and villages whole in the past two weeks is still falling in southern Poland and the neighboring Czech Republic, and the devastation spread to Germany on Friday as streets and cellars in towns on the Polish border were flooded. The storms have killed at least 86 people in 10 days and have devastated agriculture and manufacturing in Poland and the Czech Republic. Forecasters predicted that the rains will continue through the weekend.

As monthlong flooding eases in Central Europe, some economists are raising a new storm with claims that the ruinous rain clouds may have a silver lining. Although the personal suffering and loss of life are beyond measure, these experts say a natural disaster is not always bad for a transforming economy's bottom line, particularly when it strikes in the right place.

Thousands of workers scrambled to reinforce dikes with sandbags and evacuate villages Monday ahead of a 65-mile-long flood wave coursing down Poland's largest river. The brown waters of the Vistula rose above alert level in the capital, Warsaw, flooding beaches, gardens and sports centers inside the city's dikes. Emergency crews were on alert and posted fire engines and boats near possible weak points--including the Warsaw Zoo and a promenade--as the water crept higher.

Twenty stories above the Oder River, whose ravenous waters have been devouring this weary Silesian city for nearly two weeks, sits an exhausted man in a camouflage vest tending a mug of nasty-looking coffee. Jacek Scioblowski's office is about the size of a walk-in closet. The floor is a jumble of wading boots and discarded rain gear. The ashtray desperately needs emptying, and cellular telephones are recharging in every outlet.

More than 15,000 people were evacuated from the Polish town of Slubice on the Oder River between Poland and Germany as it rose to record high levels and threatened to swamp the area. On the other side of the Oder, 19,000 Germans in the Oderbruch plains braced for mass evacuations after a third flood barrier reinforcing the banks of the surging river burst farther upstream.

Hundreds of people were evacuated from six villages as flood waters that had swamped much of southern Poland overwhelmed dikes, emergency workers said. About 25 people have been killed by flooding and violent storms in Poland this month, including 12 since the situation worsened in the south last week. Thousands have been forced from their homes.

Heavy flooding and deadly lightning strikes gripped much of central and southern Poland, where at least 11 people have died as a result of storms this week, officials said. Among the latest victims were a young man and woman killed by lightning as they sought shelter under a tree in Warsaw, police said. In the Ostrowiec Swietokrzyski region, a woman and her child drowned and a young man was killed by lightning.

As monthlong flooding eases in Central Europe, some economists are raising a new storm with claims that the ruinous rain clouds may have a silver lining. Although the personal suffering and loss of life are beyond measure, these experts say a natural disaster is not always bad for a transforming economy's bottom line, particularly when it strikes in the right place.

More than 15,000 people were evacuated from the Polish town of Slubice on the Oder River between Poland and Germany as it rose to record high levels and threatened to swamp the area. On the other side of the Oder, 19,000 Germans in the Oderbruch plains braced for mass evacuations after a third flood barrier reinforcing the banks of the surging river burst farther upstream.

A massive effort to shore up a rapidly eroding earthen dike kept a flooding river in eastern Germany from swallowing more villages Saturday, but officials warned that another wave of high water was on the way. "We've only won the first battle," said Brandenburg state Environment Minister Matthias Platzeck in Bad Freienwalde, a town threatened by central Europe's worst flooding this century. The rain-swollen Oder River has also caused serious flooding in southwestern Poland, where about 1.

Twenty stories above the Oder River, whose ravenous waters have been devouring this weary Silesian city for nearly two weeks, sits an exhausted man in a camouflage vest tending a mug of nasty-looking coffee. Jacek Scioblowski's office is about the size of a walk-in closet. The floor is a jumble of wading boots and discarded rain gear. The ashtray desperately needs emptying, and cellular telephones are recharging in every outlet.

Deadly rain that has swollen rivers and swallowed people and villages whole in the past two weeks is still falling in southern Poland and the neighboring Czech Republic, and the devastation spread to Germany on Friday as streets and cellars in towns on the Polish border were flooded. The storms have killed at least 86 people in 10 days and have devastated agriculture and manufacturing in Poland and the Czech Republic. Forecasters predicted that the rains will continue through the weekend.