Water levels on Elbe river by Usti nad Labem slowly returning to normal

After a weekend that saw the Elbe river burst its banks and the north Bohemian town of Usti nad Labem go on a state of alert, water levels are slowly returning to normal, having dropped a full metre since Monday. Experts say that Thursday should see the current level drop to 610 centimetres, which is still relatively high: the normal water level is some two metres. Meanwhile some streets have been reopened and local officials are saying public transport should return to normal soon. Usti was badly affected by the summer's flood catastrophe, when the worst flooding in five hundred years devastated large areas of the Czech Republic.