2002 floods recalled: bad memories but life goes on

August 13th of 2002 is a day that remains firmly etched into people's minds. Exactly two years ago the Czech Republic - and indeed large parts of central Europe - were hit by devastating floods. Here in the Czech Republic 17 people lost their lives, 50, 000 Prague residents were evacuated from their homes, hundreds of people were left homeless and in some cases entire villages lay in ruins.

2002 floods recalled: bad memories but life goes on

Floods in Prague

Young girl: "When they first said floods were coming I didn't believe it. But when we realized it was serious I took just one shirt and trousers - that's all - and I lived in them for two weeks - washing and drying them every day. After that I wanted to go home for some things but I was stopped by this guy who said "Your life is more important than your shirt. You can't go back there now because some buildings have collapsed.""

Emergency aid from abroad was gratefully accepted and the country had to re-locate millions of crowns to finance reconstruction work. Even though the Czech Republic was not at the time an EU member state Brussels generously supplied financial aid as well. Two years later much of the damage has been repaired but the worst affected areas still have a long way to go. Prague's Karlin district still needs a lot of work -but its inhabitants are happy to be there.

Floods in Prague, Karlin district

Young girl: "Afterwards when I looked around I saw buildings that had collapsed, and there was nobody around -just myself and a few people. It was like a ghost city, you know. And it was so quiet. But afterwards they started with the reconstruction and people started coming back. So, now it's OK. I wanted to move at first but people say this kind of flood is not likely to happen again for 400 years. Well, I don't expect to live that long. So I said to myself-OK, I like Karlin, so I'm staying here."

Restaurant owner:

Floods in Prague, Karlin district

"We re-opened the restaurant exactly three months after the floods - on December 13th. There were all these maintenance crews working here, rebuilding the district, drying out homes and repairing roads and they had no where to grab a meal so as soon as we re-opened we were back in business. Of course our insurance has quadrupled since then - but I like this Prague district and I said right from the start that I wouldn't leave here and I that would re-build it all - and as you can see I have. I am happy here and my restaurant is full."

Woman on the street:

"I love to take photographs. I even have my camera with me now - but after the floods I couldn't take a single photograph of Karlin. I haven't been able to do that to this day. The anniversary brings back some bad memories you know - some of the old people who were evacuated have died. They never returned home because they just couldn't come to terms with their losses. But I can tell you that things have improved much since then and we are happy to be here. Our window faces Zizkov and on state holidays we get a great view of the fireworks - and I look at them and feel that it is a celebration of the fact that we survived - that we are still here. "