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Germany: Flooding persists in north and east, Scholz visits

January 4, 2024

A colder and drier weather front is bearing down on the flood-hit regions in northern and eastern Germany, leading to less severe rain and flood warnings. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz visited the flood zone.

https://p.dw.com/p/4aqjO
Aerial drone photo of a construction site servicing the A-14 highway bridge over the River Elbe that was rendered inaccessbile by the flood waters.
This roadworks site for the A-14 highway bridge over the River Elbe was totally cut off by the floodwatersImage: Stephan Schulz/dpa/picture alliance

Floodwaters or flood warnings and high rivers continued to plague much of northern, central and eastern Germany on Thursday morning, even as weather forecasters saw some hope of a gradually improving situation in the coming days. 

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz visited the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt, which still faces a series of warnings for its rivers. The small village of Bennungen in the south of the Harz mountains, on the bank of the River Helme, was still on the highest possible alert level on Thursday morning. 

Visiting a sandbag-filling facility in the town of Sangerhausen, Scholz praised volunteers for their help in tackling the flooding in the surrounding area.

"Nobody watches the clock — everyone gives their best," he said. "This is a great sign of solidarity. It shows that we can stand together in Germany. We will not leave anyone alone."

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke, and the state premier of Saxony-Anhalt, Reiner Haseloff, walk at the front of a group of people next to a temporary wall of sandbanks trying to hold back floodwaters. The politicians visited the area on Thursday for a closer look at the damage and to talk to volunteers helping contain it. Sangerhausen, Germany, January 4, 2024.
Scholz toured the area aroung Sangerhausen in Saxony-Anhalt with the state's top politician and his federal environment ministerImage: Jan Woitas/dpa/picture alliance

Scholz's visit comes as members of his center-left Social Democrat Party (SPD), which is the dominant political force in much of the worst-hit areas in northern Germany, call on the federal government to consider declaring a state of emergency that would allow it to borrow extra money to help with the flood relief. 

Scholz's federal coalition would be "well advised to address openly the question of whether the exceptional circumstances provision" that allows Berlin to disregard its own rules on a balanced annual budget "is not also suitable for this event, as well as for [Russia's invasion of] Ukraine and for the Ahr Valley catastrophe," senior SPD politician Rolf Mützenich told the Table.Media news outlet, referring to extremely severe flooding in western Germany in 2021. 

Firefighters fill water into an emergency mobile dam, made up of many large containers filled with water, that aims to protect nearby houses in Oldenburg
Both permanent dams and emergency ones hastily set up to try to protect houses in the flood path were for the most part containing the worst of the flooding on ThursdayImage: Hauke-Christian Dittrich/dpa/picture alliance

Saxony-Anhalt, Saxony — Dams holding in southern Harz mountains

Chancellor Scholz, Environment Minister Steffi Lemke and Saxony-Anhalt's state premier, Reiner Haseloff, visited the southern Harz mountains on Thursday to get a closer look at the situation.

Olaf Scholz standing near pumps removing excess water from the flood zones, talking to officials. Two other senior politicians are also in the frame. January 4, 2024, Sangerhausen, Germany.
Permanent or temporary dams and sandbags are being used to try to protect valuable areas, and excess water is being pumped to less problematic placesImage: Jan Woitas/dpa/picture alliance

Scholz also visited the neighboring state of Lower Saxony last week. 

Forecasters still expect rains on Thursday and Friday in the region, but not to the same extent as in the previous days. By the weekend, a colder and drier front should bring drier weather, freezing temperatures and some snowfall. 

"It is getting drier, the heavy rainfalls are stopping," Cathleen Hickmann from the German Weather Service (DWD) told the dpa news agency.

A series of rivers in the state were still subject to level 3 warnings, the second-highest available on the German scale, on Thursday, but only one rural measuring point remained at the highest available alert level.

Further east, in Saxony, water levels were also much higher than usual in major population centers, for instance where the River Elbe flows through central Dresden.

The banks of the River Elbe in the eastern Germany city of Dresden photographed by night. The water levels are very high but are yet to do real damage in the city.
To the east of the rural Harz mountains, in far more populous Dresden, the River Elbe's levels are unusually high but it has not yet come to floodingImage: Robert Michael/dpa/picture alliance

Lower Saxony — First signs of situation easing, extra help in from France

To the west of Saxony-Anhalt in the northern and central state of Lower Saxony, which suffered the worst of the flooding over New Year's in particular, the situation remained critical in several towns and villages. 

A spokesman for the state's Interior Ministry told dpa on Thursday that areas including Celle, Oldenburg, Emsland, Osterholz, Verden and Heidekreis were still on high alert. 

Around 100,000 people (from emergency services right through to volunteers) had mobilized just in Lower Saxony to help as of Wednesday; French emergency crews were also on hand to assist with flood relief efforts in the state. 

Frecnh emergency workers in Celle in Lower Saxony in Germany helping with flood relief efforts, January 3, 2024.
Assistance was on hand from across the border in France this week to help with the flood relief effortsImage: Fernando Martinez/dpa/picture alliance

The Lilienthal area, not far north of Bremen, was probably the worst-affected area in the state near a major city. Around 20,000 people live there in total, some of whom have had to leave their homes and stay away for several days because of the flood risks. The municipality said on Thursday that some had been able to return home in recent days but dozens of houses and apartments remained empty. Water levels were starting to recede in the area.

Flooded area where the River Ems has broken its banks, totally submerging a rural road in Lower Saxony. January 3, 2024.
In the worst-affected areas, which are for the most part only sparsely populated, many roads are unpassable and fields are totally submergedImage: Lars Penning/dpa/picture alliance

Hesse, northern Bavaria — Less critical but still unresolved situation

Parts of Hesse, home to the financial capital Frankfurt, also remained on high alert on Thursday.

The towns of Fulda, on the banks of the river of the same name, and Lahn, with a tributary of the Rhine river named after it, were among the worst affected.

A car driving over the Karl-Storch-Straße bridge over the River Fulda in Fulda, Germany. Beneath the bridge extensive flooding can be seen.
The elevated bridge over the Fulda heading out of the town was unaffected by the flooding, but the valley below it less soImage: picture alliance/dpa

Not far south, near the state boundary to northern Bavaria, towns and villages in Lower Franconia also remained waterlogged.

A football goal on a totally flooded pitch, with the netting tucked up high on the structure to keep it out of the water. Markt Euerdorf, northern Bavaria, January 3, 2024.
Euerdorf's footballers in northern Bavaria might have to wait a while for their next kickaroundImage: Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/dpa/picture alliance

msh/nm (AFP, dpa, Reuters)

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