Army erecting temporary bridges in flood-ravaged Moravia-Silesia

The army has started erecting temporary bridges in the flood-ravaged parts of Moravia-Silesia in order to restore local infrastructure and facilitate clean-up work. Some villages were literally torn in two when the raging current swept bridges and footbridges away, leaving inhabitants on one side cut off from provisions and services. Special army teams have been driving around Jesenice, Ostrava and Opava,  looking for places where temporary bridges could be built, Colonel Pavel Maňas, head of the Department of Engineering Technologies at the University of Defence, told the ctk news agency.  He said work had already started on a number of replacements, but it was not yet possible to say how many bridges would be built and where, because the plans must be consulted with the respective municipalities. The army has sent more than five hundred soldiers and almost a hundred pieces of heavy equipment to the affected areas since the floods began.