Rivers remain high in parts of northern and central Europe after heavy rain

Parts of northern and central Europe continued to grapple with flooding as rivers remain swollen after heavy rain

BERLIN -- Parts of northern and central Europe continued to grapple with flooding on Thursday after heavy rain, and a barrier near the German city of Magdeburg was opened for the first time in a decade to ease pressure from the Elbe River.

This week's floods have prompted evacuations of dozens or hundreds of people in parts of northern and central Germany, but largely dry weather was forecast on Thursday. Still, water levels on some rivers caused concern, and they have continued to rise in parts of Lower Saxony state in the northwest.

The Elbe was nearly 4 meters (13 feet) above its normal level in Dresden, German news agency dpa reported. Downstream, the Pretziener Wehr, a flood barrier built in the 1870s on a branch of the river and renovated in 2010, was opened for the first time since large-scale floods in 2013.

The aim was to divert about a third of the river's water into a 21-kilometer (13-mile) channel that bypasses the town of Schoenebeck and Saxony-Anhalt's state capital, Magdeburg.

To the south in Germany's Thuringia region, several hundred inhabitants of the village of Windehausen who evacuated earlier this week were cleared to return home after power was restored.