Soldiers were deployed to assist
people in two German states as heavy rains caused what may have
been the worst flooding in more than a decade.

Troops were sent to Saxony in the eastern part of the
country and Bavaria in the south, where water from the Donau
river rose to 10.58 meters (35 feet), just shy of the 10.80
meters reached during floods in 2002, according to data compiled
by the Bavarian Environment Ministry.

“We expect water levels to rise further, and at some river
segments we expect flooding of the magnitude last seen in 1999
and 2002,” Natascha Gruenpeter, a spokeswoman for the ministry,
said by phone today.

Rainfall has wreaked havoc this weekend across central
Europe. In the Czech Republic, at least 2 people have died in
floods that threaten to deluge Prague. In Austria and
Switzerland, roads and railway tracks have been submerged or
blocked by landslides, DPA reported today.

Germany saw almost twice as much rain as usual last month,
making it the second-wettest May since record keeping began in
1881, according to the German Weather Service.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Dalia Fahmy in Berlin at
dfahmy1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Andrew Blackman at
ablackman@bloomberg.net