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Heavy rains on Saturday night have caused local streams to burst their banks in South, East and Central Bohemia. Roads and cellars were flooded in and around the towns of Ceske Budejovice and Cesky Krumlov which had been severely hit by high water earlier this month. In the Krkonose Mountains, East Bohemia, the Upa river rose by two metres within one hour on Saturday night, causing damage worth tens of millions of crowns.

The former World War II concentration camp at Terezin near Litomerice in Central Bohemia will reopen for visitors on Monday. The site of the memorial as well as the town of Terezin itself were badly hit during the recent flood and the memorial alone suffered damage estimated at 60,000,000 crowns (2,000,000 US dollars). As of Monday, visitors will be able to see the Jewish cemetery and crematorium, the Small Fortress, the Ghetto Museum and other monuments. Between 1940 and 1945, more than 200,000 people were deported to the camp, known in German as Theresienstadt. Some 32,000 people died at Terezin, while 100,000 inmates were later killed at other concentration camps. In 1947 the government of Czechoslovakia decided to preserve the site and turn in into a memorial.

Clean-up work has started at the Spolana chemical plant north of Prague which was severely affected by the recent flood. On Saturday morning specialists at the plant finished removing the rest of dangerous chlorine gas stored in partially submerged tanks and on Sunday the Spolana staff started cleaning up the site and preparing the plant for normal operation expected to start at the end of October. The flooding at Spolana caused leakages of several chemical substances both into the air and water, the most dangerous being the leaks of chlorine. Last week, the government intervened after a second leak of chlorine into the air, and the factory's director was sacked.

My Letter from Prague today cannot be about anything else than floods. As a culturally-minded person I was horrified about the damage caused to cultural monuments throughout the country. Afflicted were countless theatres, especially in Prague, including the National Theatre, one of the oldest and a real national treasure. Also flooded were numerous art galleries and art shops, and the whole nation seemed to be genuinely worried about the fate of Charles bridge in Prague - an architectural gem dating back to the 14th century, which is a 100 percent

The state of emergency, which was put into force in five regions of the Czech Republic during the recent floods, will be called off on Saturday at midnight local time. In the surroundings of the towns of Decin and Litomerice and also in some parts of Prague, the state of emergency will be replaced by a state of alert. The state of emergency was first declared by Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla on the 12th of August when in a public address on Czech Radio, Mr Spidla stated that the danger caused by heavy floods in Prague, Central Bohemia, South Bohemia, and the Plzen and Karlovy Vary regions was severe enough to threaten the property, health, and lives of citizens.

The Foreign Ministers of all fifteen European Union member countries have approved the establishment of a special disaster relief fund. Finances from the fund will be available to both member and candidate countries. The Czech Republic too, is expected to be entitled to resources from the fund which should help the country in recovering from this year's devastating floods.

The three major flood accounts in the Czech Republic have collected more than 200 million crowns for flood victims. The most successful account was that of the People in Need Foundation, to which some 119 million crowns have been sent by those who want to help. The other two accounts belong to the Czech government and the Czech Catholic Charity. About one third of the sum has come from abroad. Money is flowing in from individuals, companies and charity organizations from many countries, including the United States, Spain, Slovakia, Poland and Croatia.

On Monday, Czech president Vaclav Havel and his wife Dagmar will visit the town of Svihov in the Klatovy region in West Bohemia, which is among the most heavily flood-stricken places in the Czech Republic. At present, there are soldiers in Svihov helping with the clean-up operation. The town is famous for its medieval castle surrounded by a wide moat.

The European Union's Commissioner for Enlargement, Gunter Verheugen, gave the Czech government reasons to be satisfied on Thursday, when he said that to all intents and purposes the EU already considered the Czech Republic an EU member. The main reason for his brief visit to the country on Thursday was to look at the damage caused by the recent catastrophic floods, and to offer EU support. Radio Prague's David Vaughan joined Mr Verheugen as he visited one of the most devastated parts of old Prague.