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Friday, August 16, 2002 - Web posted at 10:05:09 am GMT

DRESDEN, Germany, Aug 16 (AFP) - Floodwaters rapidly washed away nearly 12 years of reconstruction in many areas of east Germany and left thousands racing for safety, as the river Elbe broke a historic level Friday.

Authorities in the eastern state of Saxony, of which Dresden is the capital, said that in some regions development that had been funded with billions of euros in federal funds since German unification in 1990 had been nearly wiped out in a few hours.

Some 4.2 million Germans have been affected by the floods, prompted by freak rainstorms last weekend that left large swathes of central Europe under water.

The national death toll rose to 14 when a man drowned in the Wild Aus river near Dresden, authorities in Saxony said. It was the tenth flood casualty in the state since the beginning of the crisis last weekend.

By 9 am (0700 GMT) the waters in Dresden had surged past the 8.77 metre (29 foot) record set in Dresden in 1845 and rising by nearly four centimetres (1.5 inches) every hour, the regional office for the environment and geology announced.

Normally in summer the river's average level is two metres.

In 1997, devastating floods on the Oder river between Germany and Poland caused damage in Germany estimated at 330 million euros (dollars). Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who is facing an uphill battle for re-election next month, has said the figure this time could run into billions.

Shortly after midnight the waters invaded Dresden's famed Theaterplatz where the Semper Opera and the sumptuous Zwinger Palace, which house the Gemaeldegalerie -- one of Europe's great art collections that includes Raphael's Sistine Madonna -- is located.

Thousands of cultural treasures were rescued from the buildings and taken to higher ground earlier this week.

Meanwhile the chemical complex in the eastern city of Bitterfeld, 115 kilometers northwest of Dresden, was threatend when a burst dam on the Mulde, a tributary of the Elbe.

Emergency teams evacuated nearby residents overnight and piled sandbags to try to shore up the broken dam. A spokesman said if water continued rising Friday, it would hit Bitterfield's huge Bayer chemical plant.

Preventive evacuations were made in Muehlberg. Another 20,000 people were on standby awaiting orders in the Saxony-Anhalt capital of Magdeburg, which saw huge traffic jams overnight as hundreds of residents piled belongings into cars and fled.

Some 30,000 people were ordered to evacuate the southeastern German towns of Pirna and Heidenau between Dresden and the Czech border Thursday evening as floodwaters from the Elbe swamped the region.

But in a rare bit of good news, authorities called off the operation Friday morning after the situation improved.

German soldiers and members of the US armed forces stationed in the country had assisted with the rescue operation, bringing inhabitants to safety in makeshift camping grounds. Others sought refuge with relatives. - Nampa-AFP

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