Rivers In S. German Flooding Hit Record Highs, But Threat Receding

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Record floodwaters in southern Germany surged downstream Wednesday after wreaking havoc in Alpine regions but authorities said they were confident that the worst was over. Authorities said the floods on the Danube, the main river crossing the state of Bavaria, appeared to be less dramatic than first feared.

Despite higher river levels than those seen in 1999, when regional records were set, the damage was in nearly all areas less serious this time. After leaving a trail of destruction in Alpine valleys near the Austrian border, the floodwaters receded downstream late Wednesday, allowing residents throughout the region to breathe a sigh of relief. "Images like you saw in southern Bavaria are not expected here," a spokesman for the city of Regensburg on the Danube said.

Authorities in the city of Passau, through which three rivers flow , said that the level of the Inn had already reached its peak and that the city was prepared for the rise of the Danube overnight after volunteers piled sandbags to protect homes and business in the town center.

Residents along the Danube, Inn and Isar rivers had braced for disaster while thousands of people helped heave sandbags overnight to shore up straining dams. The Danube burst its banks at Neu-Ulm, prompting authorities to rush patients at a hospital and residents of a retirement home to safety.

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