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Message: I thought you all like to see what is happing in my Birthplace.All my Family is still in does town:Dresden,Meissen+ Magdeburg.We can not reach some of them by Phone.We just keep Praying.Heidi

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Dresden Floodwaters Break RecordEmail this StoryAug 16, 8:08 AM (ET)By DAVID RISING (AP) Police cars pass a flooded street along the Elbe river between Dresden and Meissen, Germany, on...Full ImageDRESDEN, Germany (AP) - Authorities evacuated thousands of people near Dresden's historic center Friday as floodwaters in the Elbe River rose to a record high and spilled into a square close to some of the city's cultural landmarks.The Elbe - fed by high water that earlier devastated Prague - rose to above 29 feet early Friday, shattering the previous high of 28.75 feet reached in 1845. Still rising, the river was expected to crest later Friday.Authorities began the evacuation of up to 33,000 Dresden residents from their homes early Friday, starting in a neighborhood about two miles downstream - the closest yet to the center with its landmarks like the Church of Our Lady and the Semper Opera.Already, some 5,000 people have been forced to leave their homes in Dresden in recent days as Europe's flooding hit east Germany.On Friday, water inundated a city square in front of the 19th-century opera and the famed Zwinger Gallery, home to paints by the old masters, both already hit by earlier flooding this week. But no evacuations were planned in the center for now, Saxony state interior ministry spokesman Stephan Beemelmans said.Soldiers and emergency crews also built emergency shelters for about 30,000 people they hoped to clear from their homes Friday in and around the town of Pirna, about 12 miles south of Dresden.At least 102 people have died in Europe's flooding. Twelve people were killed in Germany, but 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.Despite sunny weather Thursday that was forecast to hold for the coming days, German emergency officials evacuated tens of thousands of residents in the central eastern city of Magedeburg and in Brandenburg state, surrounding Berlin, where it is feared rivers and tributaries would spill their banks over the weekend.With measuring gauges torn away in many places by the raging waters, officials in Dresden said they couldn't tell how high the Elbe - already at about five times its normal level - would still rise.(AP) Cars sit in the flooded city of Pirna, near Dresden, Germany, on Friday, Aug. 16, 2002. The Elbe...Full Image"It will still go up a bit, we think," city spokeswoman Schoger said. "We have heard to about 9 meters (about 30 feet), but don't really know."Residents struggled to barricade the streets surrounding the inner city with sandbags, hoping to save the city's cultural monuments from further water damage. Basements in both the Semper Opera and the Zwinger Gallery have been flooded for two days.German 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.To the southeast in Europe, the rising Danube raised alarm. It was expected to peak Friday in Bratislava, the Slovak capital, at a 500-year high.In Hungary, about 1,000 people worked through the night stacking sandbags on a bend in the Danube north of Budapest, where the high water was expected Saturday. In the town of Vac, inmates helped build anti-flood barricades around a prison beside the river.(AP) Petr Kloc smokes a cigarette while checking the damage to his house in the village of Libis, near...Full ImageIn Austria, where the floods left seven dead, the capital Vienna was spared major flooding as the Danube receded.Waters also receded in Prague, where thousands of sandbags kept the raging river from punching through and flooding the historic Czech capital's Old Town. Still, water did reach the Military Historical Archive, the Academy of Science and other important buildings."The damage can be calculated in kilometers, which means tens of thousands of shelves with unique and irreplaceable documents," Miroslav Kun, an official with the National Central Archive, told the Czech news agency CTK.Czech authorities blew up five ships on the Elbe that had broken loose and threatened to ram bridges. One man was killed by the flying debris, raising the death toll there to 12.Actor Connery, who was in Prague shooting a film during the height of the flooding Wednesday, said he was left speechless by the damage."I couldn't adequately express the disaster that it is now," he said.Concern grew Thursday over potential environmental disasters, as waters engulfed a chemical plant north of Prague. German authorities also kept a wary eye on a massive chemical complex in Bitterfeld, once the pride of the former East Germany.Authorities began clearing about 1,500 Bitterfeld residents out of their homes Friday. But officials have said the chemical plants are not at risk.Articles From APCopyright 2002 Associated Press. All right reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.