Germany scrambles to repel flood surges Germany's race to shore up dams on swollen rivers shifted to the north Friday while Hungary braced for a record flood surge as other central European regions began counting the cost of the deadly flooding. Volunteers, rescuers and soldiers in northern German states feverishly piled up sandbags along the Elbe river which has already deluged vast stretches with seas of brown water from the Czech Republic to eastern Germany. Images