Major Floods in Austria after heavy rain

[Pastor Dale Morgan]

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Perilous Times and Global Warming

Major Floods in west, north of Austria after heavy rain*

VIENNA, Aug 8 (AFP) Aug 08, 2006

Parts of northern and western Austria were put on flood alert late
Monday following heavy rain over the weekend, authorities said.

This comes after the country experienced record high temperatures of up
to 36 degrees in recent weeks.

Flood alarms were triggered around Vienna, in the spa town of Baden just
south of the capital and in Krems and St. Poelten, in the province of
Lower Austria.

Streets and railways in that province stood under water and had to be
closed, several towns were cut off and one house had to be evacuated
following a landslide. Over 2,000 firefighters and emergency services
were working to pump the water out of houses and cellars.

In the towns of Frankenfels and Annaberg, west of Vienna, 180 litres per
square metre of rain fell in just 24 hours, the Austria Press Agency
reported.

In Sonntagberg, the river Ybbs which flows into the Danube carried away
a bridge holding a gasoline main, causing a "considerable gas leak,"
according to authorities. Lower Austria's gas provider EVN immediately
cut the supply.

Parts of Carinthia and Upper Austria were also flooded following heavy
rain on Monday.

But despite fears the Danube might reach the record level of 9.20 metres
registered in March 2002, when large parts of Europe were flooded, the
water level only went as high as 8.60 metres early Tuesday before
falling further to 8.45 metres as the rain abated, the Lower Austrian
alert centre said.