Thaw brings flooding

Vienna

Rivers overflowed their banks across Central Europe this week, sending thousands of people fleeing to higher ground. Both Hungary and the Czech Republic declared states of emergency as the Danube and Elbe rivers flooded. Usti-nad-Labem, a Czech town near the German border, was swamped when the Elbe rose from its normal height of 6 feet to nearly 30 feet. The Danube, meanwhile, matched its historic high of 28 feet, a record set during the catastrophic floods of 2002.