As floodwaters recede, attention now turns to assessing the damage and beginning recovery, even as politicians continue to lay blame for why some regions were unprepared for the third major flood to hit this country in less than a decade.

The Regional Development Ministry is estimating damage at 5 billion Kč ($216 million). Standard & Poor's puts damage at 2 billion Kč. The government says it will be weeks before the full extent of the impact is known.

At press time, eight people had died, and authorities were still looking for a Brno police officer whose disappearance may have been a result of the rising waters.

The floods are abating at least in part because river basin managers have been vigilantly monitoring reservoir levels and emptying them at controlled intervals to make room for additional water coming from rains and melting snow.

Seeking aid

The floods might pale in comparison to those of 2002 — which killed 17 people, and caused billions of crowns worth of damage across 99 cities and towns — but the government is still working out funding schemes to assist the recovery effort. In 2002, the country had to rely heavily on emergency aid from the European Union's Solidarity Fund.

"Thank God this year's floods were not widespread enough to be handled by the EU Solidarity Fund," Prime Minister Jiří Paroubek told The Prague Post. "Still, we are discussing EU help and I have no doubt that we'll find a way to obtain funds."

Current EU President Wolfgang Schüssel has promised the Czech government that he would discuss aid with European Commission President José Barroso. The country is eligible for nearly 20 billion Kč in anti-flood funding from the EU.

Paroubek said he is seeking a 10 billion to 15 billion Kč loan from the European Investment Bank.

Other countries are also pledging aid. French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said April 6 his government is prepared to send money.

Paroubek and U.S. Ambassador to the Czech Republic William Cabaniss are also expected to discuss aid at an upcoming meeting.

U.S. Embassy spokesman Jan Krč said the United States expects to contribute to rebuilding efforts once damage is fully tallied.

Krč pointed out that the United States gave Czechs $3 million in aid after the 2002 floods.

Preparing for next time

Cities and towns nationwide are already vowing to increase anti-flood measures to prevent future disasters.

In hard-hit Ústí nad Labem, north Bohemia, Mayor Petr Gandalovič said plans are already under way to install flood barriers similar to the ones installed in Prague immediately following the 2002 floods.

"The barriers for the right bank of the Labe River were planned for 2007, but after this year's floods, the river administration decided to speed things up and apply immediately for a construction permit," he said.

River basin managers are also promising action to head off future flood damage.

Povodí Vltavy, which is responsible for the Vltava River basin, is promising to spend nearly 2 billion Kč over the next three years to improve drainage, among other things. Povodí Labe will spend at least 3.5 billion Kč during that time.

Uncovered victims

The floods are not expected to have a significant financial impact on the Czech insurance industry because they struck mainly agricultural regions, according to an April 7 report released by Standard & Poor's.

The report estimates that insurance companies will dole out only 2 billion Kč this year, compared to 70 billion Kč in 2002 and 63 billion Kč in 1997, a year that also saw floods.

But the 2006 floods are likely to change how insurance companies do business in the future.

Česká pojišťovna, the biggest insurance company in the Czech Republic, says it will not reinsure those who have filed flood claims in the past 10 years, said company spokesman Václav Bálek.

Prague-tested

Prague officials, with memories of 2002 fresh in mind, are calling this year's floods relatively uneventful.

"For us, this year's floods amounted to a test of readiness," said Prague 1 spokesman Jan Šlajs. "There has been nothing unexpected that would surprise us [or] catch us unprepared during the recent floods."

A network of flood barriers kept waters out of low-lying areas, in particular around parts of Malá Strana.

Uneventful or not, the 2006 floods will still end up costing Prague money: 75 million Kč, by the estimates of Deputy Mayor Rudolf Blažek, two-thirds of which is attributed to the operational costs of implementing the city's flood plan.