Weather - Flood risk increases in several federal states
In view of the heavy rainfall of the past few days, the risk of flooding is increasing in various German regions.
In Lower Saxony, 30 water levels reached the third of four warning levels in the early morning, according to the State Agency for Water Management, Coastal Defence and Nature Conservation. The rivers Weser, Aller, Leine and Oker, among others, exceeded this threshold. At level three, flooding of properties and larger areas as well as roads and cellars is possible.
In many districts in Lower Saxony, fire departments and volunteers protected areas with sandbags. In Rodenberg in the district of Schaumburg, emergency services also secured transformer stations as a precaution, as reported by a dpa reporter on site. Sirens warned the residents during the night.
The mayor of the joint municipality, Thomas Wolf, reported early in the morning that the floodwater was now flowing over the weir. Helpers had run from house to house to warn the residents. A total of 300 helpers were deployed, from the fire department as well as the technical relief organization. There had not been a flood like this in the municipality for 25 years.
"Continuous rainfall sometimes lasts until Christmas Day"
In Saxony-Anhalt, the flood forecasting center issued warnings for the Mulde, Aller and Havel rivers. Alert levels 1 and 2 were exceeded at several measuring points in the state, and even alert level 3 in Wolmirstedt in the district of Börde and in Tylsen in the Altmark district of Salzwedel. The flood situation also worsened in parts of Saxony. On Sunday morning, several water gauges reached the alert level 3 - for example in Chemnitz.
On Saturday evening, the German Weather Service issued a warning for Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Hesse, Bavaria and Saxony due to the persistent rain. "The persistent rain will continue until Monday, Christmas Day," it said. "Until then, a total of 40 to 80 liters per square meter will fall in the low mountain ranges, in some cases also reaching into the foothills, accumulated since Thursday, in 2 to 4 days." In congested areas, even 80 to 120 liters are possible. This would mainly affect the western low mountain ranges, but also the Oberharz, Fichtelgebirge and Bavarian Forest.
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Source: www.stern.de
