Dresden residents pile sandbags as floodwaters spread in Europe

DRESDEN, Germany -- Men, women and children piled sandbags around Dresden's rising river Thursday to protect a city renowned for its cultural treasures from high waters that churned through east Germany in flooding that has killed at least 100 people across Europe.

A huge chemical industry complex about 70 miles to the north came under threat after a raging river broke through a levee, but officials said the plants at Bitterfeld -- a notoriously polluted site during communist East German times -- were not at risk. An evacuation of the town was called off.

Even as sun shone on the region Thursday and sunny weather was forecast for the coming days, German emergency officials evacuated tens of thousands of residents along rain-swollen rivers and tributaries.

Soldiers and emergency crews were erecting a tent city for up to 30,000 in Pirna, 12 miles south of Dresden.

Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, struggling in his campaign for a second term in Sept. 22 elections, spoke of a "national catastrophe" and promised to spearhead a rebuilding effort he said would cost billions of dollars.

"These must be mobilized, and we are determined to do that," Schroeder said, though he gave no specifics on where the money would come from.

Most deaths in Russia

At least 100 people have died in Europe's flooding. Most casualties were in Russia, where the death toll stood at 59 -- mostly Russian tourists vacationing on the Black Sea who were swept away by swiftly moving water. On Thursday, weather forecasters predicted new storms on the Black Sea coast.

In Dresden, Mayor Ingolf Rossberg said the Elbe River rose above 26 1/2 feet to its highest level in more than 100 years. It had yet to burst its banks in the city center, but officials said the river -- fed by high water that earlier devastated Prague -- was expected to crest today.

Dresden residents barricaded streets along the Elbe's banks with sandbag walls Thursday, with adults and children passing bags in a chain. Some children struggled under the weight of the bags, as chairs, tables and branches floated by in the dirty brown river.

Richard Schutze, his hands cut from hauling the burlap sacks, said the neighborhood was working all day to protect their homes.

"You have to always add more. Every half an hour we added another layer, but it's hard to say if it's enough," he said. "This water is extreme."

Downstream from Dresden to the north, several cities on the Elbe -- notably Magdeburg -- braced for their share of flooding that has left 11 dead in Germany.