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The clean up after the floods has started in most parts of Moravia in spite of overnight rain. River levels stabilised and are expected to continue falling on Saturday. The highest level of flood alert applied on Friday at only one site in the south of the country. As flooding eased, more than a dozen cases of subsidence have been registered with at least three houses demolished as a result. Hundreds of people evacuated from their homes have been allowed back in northern and central Moravia, including the town of Troubky. It was the symbol of the devastating 1997 floods in Moravia.

Power companies have called off their state of emergency with supplies being connected again. The floods have claimed one victim to date, a 69-year-old woman who died in her garden when the River Olše burst its banks at Třinec last Sunday. The Ministry of Regional Development promised up to 30,000 crowns to households that suffered flooding and 150,000 crowns to those whose homes had been destroyed.

The Czech Insurance Association said on Thursday that companies have already fielded around 4,000 demands for flood damages adding up to around 500 million crowns, around 24 million US dollars. A spokeswoman for the association told Czech Radio that demands were expected to reach around 10,000 with claims amounting to around 1.0 billion crowns. This compares with the around 34 billion crown insurance bill for damages during the 2002 floods which mainly hit Bohemia and the capital, Prague.

River levels started to go down in most parts of Moravia overnight as rain held off. But third degree warnings still apply at two locations in the south of the region. As flooding eased, around a dozen cases of subsidence have been notified with at least three houses demolished as a result. Hundreds of people evacuated from their homes have been allowed back in northern and central Moravia, including the town of Troubky. It was the symbol of the devastating 1997 floods in Moravia. Power companies have called off their state of emergency with supplies being connected again. The floods have claimed one victim to date, a 69-year-old woman who died in her garden when the River Olše burst its banks at Třinec on Sunday. The Ministry of Regional Development promised up to 30,000 crowns to households that suffered flooding and 150,000 crowns to those whose homes had been destroyed.

After torrential rains caused flooding in parts of Moravia this week, water levels have started to go down. But now the hard part begins: assessing the cost of the damage, as well as beginning the clean-up and recovery. Parts of Moravia are still in danger of mudslides and several homes have either been destroyed or face demolition. Local officials expect that repairs will cost billions of crowns.

Most swollen rivers in Moravia have started going down, though complications caused by flooding remain in many areas. Only the lower part of the Morava in south Moravia continued to rise on Wednesday; its water levels are expected to start dropping on Thursday. In North Moravia, flooded soils have started moving; three houses had to be demolished as a consequence. Some of the hundreds of people evacuated earlier on Wednesday from the south Moravian town of Troubky were able to return home. Troubky was devastated by floods in 1997. Thousands of homes remain without power. Forecasters say it will continue to rain for the next few days. The floods have claimed one victim to date, a woman of 69 who drowned in her garden in Třinec on Sunday after the River Olše burst its banks.

The Czech Insurance Association estimates that floods across Moravia will cause insured damages of up to 320 million Czech crowns. Insurance companies have described the increase in reported cases as growing explosively. The company Česká pojišťovna alone had 1500 cases amounting to damages of 40 million crowns reported by noon on Wednesday. Vehicles and family homes were most affected, but some larger damages of public transportation facilities and businesses have also occurred.

According to preliminary estimates by the Association of Regions of the Czech Republic, damages linked to the floods in Moravia will reach billions of crowns. The association’s director, Michal Hašek, said on Wednesday that the regions affected will need to agree on the exact funds to be earmarked for the construction of anti-flood barriers. He added that the Moravian-Silesian region’s prison authorities had offered that up to a hundred prisoners with lighter charges could help in the clean-up effort. Regions not affected by the floods are also preparing to send help. The regional authority of Prague will send technicians and drying equipment to the region. Meanwhile, the government approved 50 million crowns in aid, while officials said the amount could be raised to 100 million crowns.

In related news, Václav Klaus, the Czech president, has said that rather than paying to fix houses that repeatedly become damaged during floods, the government should invest in moving such buildings further away from rivers that tend to flood. He added that the government should carefully consider if it is reasonable to set aside extraordinary funds to build anti-flood walls. He said that their construction was often problematic due to conflicts with private land-owners.

The minister of the environment, Rut Bízková, said on Wednesday that the fact that some anti-flood barriers are still unfinished has significantly contributed to the damages caused by the floods in Moravia. She added that municipalities needed to make a stronger effort to have flood walls built. Mrs. Bízková, who was meeting with the flood committee in the Moravian city of Brno on Wednesday, said that the Environment Ministry had earmarked substantial funds for the construction of anti-flood barriers. The current situation, she added, should be a signal for mayors across the region to start better protecting their municipalities.

Flooding has continued to cause serious problems in many parts of Moravia. Around 3,500 homes were without electricity on Tuesday, while train services have been halted in some places. Much of the southern Moravian town of Troubky, which was devastated by floods in 1997, is under water and many local people have been evacuated. While some rivers continue to rise, others have started to go down and there is a danger of landslides in some places as the waters recede. The floods have claimed one victim to date, a woman of 69 who drowned in her garden in Třinec on Sunday after the River Olše burst its banks. Police in Ostrava were called to deal with cases of looting of flooded buildings on Tuesday. After days of downpours in the east of the Czech Republic, rain is expected to ease off on Wednesday.

The Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer has discussed the possibility of sharing resources to deal with the flooding with his counterparts in neighbouring Poland and Slovakia, which have also been affected. After an emergency meeting on Monday the Czech government said it was sending 800 soldiers to help with the clear up.