News 08-08-2010 Radio Prague Flash floods kill at least three in north of country, cause major devastation At least three people drowned in flash floods which hit northern areas of the Czech Republic on Saturday, police and rescue officials have said. The floods struck primarily in the region of Liberec and the neighboring Ústí nad Labem which declared a state of emergency. Among those who died in the floods was an elderly man trapped in his home in Dolní Libchava near Česká Lípa. Officials expect the final toll could be higher, as three people remain missing - including a man who was last seen falling into raging waters. Along with the toll in lives , floodwaters on Saturday caused untold damage to property and infrastructure , grinding through asphalt roads and railway lines, sweeping away cars, and damaging or destroying personal homes. Around 2,000 people were evacuated from their homes by rescue workers and military personnel called in to deal with the calamity. Some 700 professional as well as voluntary fire fighters worked around the clock together with the army, which supplied military and police helicopters for rescue missions, as well as heavy machinery and two amphibious vehicles. Both the head of the General Staff, Vlastimil Picek, and Defence Minister Alexandr Vondra flew to flood-stricken areas to assess the damage. Some flood waters begin to recede but warnings remain in place in areas Although waters have since begun to recede in some areas, flood warnings remained in ten places on Sunday morning with officials urging drivers, for example, not to head for Frýdlant, badly hit by the floods on Saturday. The army and fire fighters are working to clear routes there as the day continues. A number of train lines remain closed due to collapsed ground, debris or mudslides , although the line to Dresden, Germany is reportedly now running. Meanwhile, power remains down in three regions where the utility ČEZ earlier declared a state of calamity: Ústí nad Labem, Liberec and D ěč in: although some power has been restored, 1,700 households in northern Bohemia remain without electricity. Rivers or streams on which water levels have begun to drop include the Kamenice, Lužická Nisa, Mandava, and Je řice but 3rd level warnings (the second highest issued by the Hydrometeorological Institute) remained elsewhere. In South Bohemia , an emergency flood alert warning has been issued for the Lužnice, which flows through Bechyn ě and is threatening to break its banks. The town of Veselí nad Lužnicí has begun preparing inhabitants for possible evacuation from their homes. PM says floods will change budget priorities Prime Minister Petr Ne čas has said that the clean-up of the devastation will change budget priorities, stressing that the government has funds in budget reserves which could be allocated to repair damages . The government will hold a special meeting on Monday to assess the situation ; the prime minister has not yet said how much funding could be released but expects that an assessment of the costs will be ready within a few days. The prime minister, like the Czech President Václav Kláus, is also heading for the Liberec region to see the impact up close; the president visited on Sunday afternoon. 1 Liberec governor: damage from floods could exceed one billion crowns The governor of the Liberec region has estimated that damage from the flash floods which hit the Czech Republic could exceed one billion crowns (the equivalent of 53.4 million US dollars). The governor, Stanislav Eichler, made the estimate during Sunday afternoon’s visit by Czech President Václav Klaus. Structures which suffered damage include bridges, footbridges and personal homes. Damage to public property in one village, Chrastava, has been estimated at 100 million crowns alone. Meanwhile, several hundred people in flood-hit areas have already begun contacting insurance companies with claims . 13-08-2010 Government wants people in high-risk areas to move to safer ground Visiting the flood-stricken region, Agriculture Minister Ivan Fuksa said neither the state nor municipalities should continue to fund the reconstruction of homes that have been repeatedly flooded. He said the authorities should encourage people to move to safer ground , even at the cost of losing money in the process. One option currently being discussed is that the State Land Fund would provide people in high risk areas with new plots of land to build on – in exchange for the plots they now own. The state and insurance companies would help flood victims fund the construction of new homes instead of repeatedly paying for flood damage and emergency aid. 22-08-2010 PM raises doubts over creation of flood solidarity fund based on cut in tax breaks Prime Minister Ne čas has raised doubts over the introduction of a solidarity fund to deal with the effects of flooding in the future. Following floods in north Bohemia two weeks ago, the minister of finance, Miroslav Kalousek, said all working Czechs would contribute to the fund in the form of a CZK 100-a-month cut in income tax breaks, a move some critics slammed as nothing less than a new tax. On Czech Television on Sunday the prime minister said he was now considering whether to go ahead with the plan , adding that the money to deal with flooding ought to be found from other sources. 23-08-2010 Finance Minister scolds PM on flood relief funding turnaround Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek has spoken out against the prime minister’s disapproval of a plan to finance flood relief from income tax breaks. Mr Kalousek said that the chairmen of the coalition parties had agreed on his ministry’s flood tax two weeks earlier, and said the PM’s about- face on the issue was absolutely inappropriate in a coalition. Following floods in north Bohemia two weeks ago, Mr Kalousek said all working Czechs would contribute to a flood relief fund in the form of a CZK 100-a-month cut in income tax breaks, a move some critics slammed as nothing less than a new tax. On Sunday, Prime Minister Ne čas said he had a number of reservations regarding the flood tax, and referenced a pre-election promise not to increase direct taxes . 2 27-08-2010 PM willing to agree on flood relief tax but only for year Prime Minister Petr Ne čas has said he would be willing to accept a new flood tax proposed by the finance minister but only for one year. He made the statement in an interview for the financial daily Hospodá řské noviny on Friday, stressing that he was not willing to raise taxes for a longer period. Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek raised the issue following recent flash floods which devastated parts of northern Bohemia. Under his plan, members of the workforce would contribute to a flood relief fund in the form of a 100 crown-a-month cut in their income tax break. The proposal has been a point of contention between the finance minister and the prime minister in the media since. 05-09-2010 State of emergency in region of Liberec ends at midnight A state of emergency following last month’s flash floods in the region of Liberec ends at midnight Sunday night. Record levels of rainfall left 79 communities in the region severely inundated. Five people were killed and damages have been calculated at 5.4 billion crowns and rising. Most of the material damages have now been eliminated, most of the roads in the region are open again and the army has built a number of temporary bridges; seven bridges were destroyed in the flooding while another 112 were damaged. 3 .