Press Review
Floods continue to make the headlines in all of Thursday's papers where little else is discussed. Besides the devastating effects of floodwaters shown in spectacular photographs - including some incredible aerial photos - the papers warn that it's not over yet. Floodwaters are now heading to North Bohemia.
Floods continue to make the headlines in all of Thursday's papers where little else is discussed. Besides the devastating effects of floodwaters shown in spectacular photographs - including some incredible aerial photos - the papers warn that it's not over yet. Floodwaters are now heading to North Bohemia.
Lidove noviny carries a special supplement focusing on evacuation centers, crisis centers and help lines. All those, who need help or who are willing to help will find relevant information - the paper lists important phone numbers, websites, radio frequencies and evacuation centers in eleven different regions in the Czech Republic.
Thirty Czech Airlines' stewards and stewardesses are assisting crisis centers in Prague, writes Mlada fronta Dnes. The airline company's staff is used to working with people - often under stressful conditions. For this reason the company has offered assistance to Prague city authorities and the centers the city runs where such help is needed.
Mlada fronta Dnes reports that many Supermarkets are making good profits these days. In fear of the floodwaters, people - expecting the worst - have been panic buying. Bottled water, bread, hygiene products and photographic films are flying off the shelves, says the paper. Many stores in the danger areas have had to close and experienced losses. While large chain stores have been able to make up for the losses and benefit from the situation, small retailers are losing money.
This time, Charles Bridge will survive, reads a headline on the front page of Hospodarske noviny. Experts who are cited in the paper say that the bridge would only be damaged if something large and heavy got caught in the bridge's pillars. A crane situated on the bridge is preventing this from happening as it is removing all larger objects that might potentially threaten the bridge.
Moving on to Pravo now, the paper writes about a man who was spotted in Prague yesterday on the raging river, only wearing his pyjamas while floating downstream on a log. The man was swept away by the river in front of his cottage in Lahovice near Prague when he walked outside of the cottage, half-asleep and stepped into the water, which he hadn't seen. The torrent carried him under most of Prague's bridges all the way to Northern part of Prague where he was finally rescued.
And finally, Mlada fronta Dnes speculates about the end of the devastating floods and expected damages. It will likely take weeks or even months before things return to normal. According to preliminary estimates, floods in Prague and other towns in South and West Bohemia have caused damages amounting to billions of Czech crowns.
Total damages are expected to surpass the last disastrous floods that hit the country in 1997, writes the paper and adds that experience from the last floods has shown that it will take at least one year to deal with all the damage caused by the floods.
