Photo Gallery The Oder River Swell
Flood waters on the Oder River surrounded the water level station near Ratzdorf, in the eastern German state of Brandenburg, on Thursday. The Oder forms a natural border between Germany and Poland. Flooding in Poland reached Germany on Wednesday, earlier than expected. And by early Friday morning, the flood's crest had reached Germany.
Still, the flooding is not expected to be as severe as it was in 1997, when more than 100 people died. Here, firemen prepare sandbags along the banks of the Oder.
An aerial photo taken on Thursday shows the swollen Oder River near the city of Ratzdorf (about two hours southeast of Berlin). So far in Poland, 15 people have died and thousands have been forced to be evacuated because of the flooding.
A dike broke near Ratzdorf in the early morning hours on Friday, but officials were able to quickly repair it. Hundreds of millions of euros have been invested by the German government in restoring and buttressing dikes along the Oder River since devastating 1997 floods. More than 100 people were killed back then, mostly in Poland and the Czech Republic, in what was called the "flood of the century."
Brandenburg Interior Minister Rainer Speer said Thursday that the water level is expected to stay high over the weekend before receding.
The water level in Ratzdorf stood at 6.28 meters (20.6 feet) on Friday morning, according to the Center for Flood Reporting in Frankfurt an der Oder.
A flooded street in Brieskow-Finkenheerd just south of Frankfurt an der Oder on Thursday. Brandenburg officials issued the highest possible flood warning for the area.
The promenade along the Oder River in Eisenhüttenstadt is covered in flood waters. The flooding started last week in southwestern Poland as heavy rains and cresting rivers flooded the city of Wroclaw and threatened Warsaw.
Hundreds of sandbags protected a street Thursday in Eisenhüttenstadt. Speer has said that dikes along the Oder are better prepared for flooding than they were during the disastrous 1997 floods.
Brandenburg Governor Matthias Platzeck and Speer appeared together at a press conference on Thursday: "All the appropriate measures were taken to protect residents and their belongings," Platzeck said. The governor also said that there was better cross-border cooperation with Polish officials than there was in 1997.
The restaurant Oderblick (Oder View) in Lebus north of Frankfurt an der Oder provided an even closer view of the river this week. Its parking lot and street were flooded on Thursday.
A view of Frankfurt an der Oder taken from the other side of the river, in Slubice, Poland. Several neighborhoods in Slubice had to be evacuated because of the threat of flooding.
A reporter for German news broadcaster n-tv braves the high waters in Eisenhüttenstadt on Thursday.
