The Elbe continues to flood in Saxony. In the Czech catchment area of the river as well as the Vltava, water levels are receding very slowly, and there continues to be an increased release from the Vltava cascade, Karin Bernhardt, spokeswoman for the State Office for the Environment, Agriculture and Geology, said Wednesday. "As a result, water levels at the Elbe gauges in Saxony will continue to move at high levels with fluctuations." The authority expects that the alert level 1 in Schöna, Dresden and Riesa will be undercut only at the weekend.
At the Dresden gauge, the water level has been falling again since Tuesday morning, and at noon on Wednesday it was 4.01 meters. The forecast of the Landeshochwasserzentrum still goes until Thursday evening, the limit of four meters will then be undercut only in the early Friday morning. Normal are below the Augustusbrücke two meters, at the flood of the century in 2002, it was 9.40 meters.
The river had filled steadily after persistent rainfall, especially in its Czech catchment area last weekend, on Monday had been declared in Dresden the alert level 1. In some places, it has overflowed its banks. According to the city administration, some sections of the Elbe cycle path, such as in Niederwartha and at the Blaues Wunder in Loschwitz, are still of limited use. Road closures there are none.
