Weather - Floods in Thuringia: Evacuation of Windehausen
Evacuation instead of contemplative hours under the Christmas tree: in Windehausen in northern Thuringia (Nordhausen district), the flood situation has worsened to such an extent that the entire district of Heringen, which has just under 500 inhabitants, had to be evacuated on Christmas Day. "The situation is very threatening, I have never seen anything like it in the Goldene Aue," said the mayor of the town of Heringen, Matthias Marquardt (Left Party), to the German Press Agency on Monday.
It had also rained heavily in Windehausen on Monday. The water was up to one meter high in the village on Christmas Day. There was no electricity, no access and no landline telephony, the mayor described the critical situation. In addition, the toilets were no longer working due to the lack of drains. Residents were therefore urgently advised to leave their homes. However, the mayor emphasized that people would not be taken from their homes by police force.
Overflowing like a bathtub
Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow (Left Party), who visited the site himself on Monday, wrote on the internet platform X (formerly Twitter): "I hope that all those affected by the floods will be able to return home as soon as possible." It is still uncertain when people will actually be able to return to their homes in Windehausen. The mayor expects the flood situation there to continue for several more days. "It's like a bathtub that has filled up."
The residents have been evacuated since Monday afternoon using wheel loaders and disaster control vehicles. They were taken to assembly points and from there by bus to a gymnasium in Heringen. Many residents were accommodated with family members.
The situation was also still tense in parts of southern Thuringia on Christmas Day. A flood warning was issued for the district of Hildburghausen. This applied to the villages of Oberrod and Rappelsdorf. As the Hildburghausen district office announced on Monday, no evacuations of villages were initially necessary. In the area of the sluice and Werra, flood protection measures have been intensified and increased by the responsible towns and municipalities. The population is asked to inform themselves about the situation.
Slight easing of the situation in Thuringia
In Thuringia, it had rained heavily for several days in a row and snowed in the mountains. Numerous roads had to be closed due to flooding and water had to be pumped out of cellars. The German Weather Service (DWD) is expecting further rainfall in the state. However, according to the forecasts, the rain will not be as heavy as in the past few days, said Nils Fröhlich, spokesman for the Thuringian State Office for the Environment, Mining and Nature Conservation. The trend towards falling water levels is therefore expected to continue.
Nevertheless, rapidly rising water levels could occur again in some places. The flood situation had largely stabilized across the country on Christmas Day. However, the water levels were still at a high level, said Fröhlich.
At five gauges in the area up to Meiningen, the water levels were above reporting level two on Monday. At the Hinternah gauge in southern Thuringia, the second-highest reporting level three of the four-level scale was still exceeded. The flood wave is currently running down the Werra, causing water levels to rise above reporting level one. However, it is unlikely that reporting level two will be reached, according to the flood information center.
The flood situation has also eased slightly in the area of the upper Unstrut, Helme and Wipper as well as on the southern edge of the Harz. According to the information, all water levels there have now fallen below reporting level three, but are often still at a high level.
Flood control center
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- Despite the worsening flood situation, residents in Windehausen were urged to evacuate their homes without police intervention.
- Bodo Ramelow, Thuringia's prime minister, expressed hope for a swift return of affected residents on his X (formerly Twitter) platform.
- The evacuated residents from Windehausen were taken to assembly points and later bused to a gymnasium in Heringen for temporary shelter.
- In Hildburghausen's district, villages like Oberrod and Rappelsdorf remained under a flood warning but no evacuations were necessary yet.
- The German Weather Service (DWD) forecasted lighter rainfall, but warned of rapid water level increases in some areas across Thuringia.
- Matthias Marquardt, the mayor of Heringen, described the critical situation in Windehausen as an "overfilled bathtub" with no power, access, or landlines.
- Following evacuations, residents in Windehausen were left without electricity and utilities, with basements filled with water and toilets malfunctioning.
- In Southern Thuringia, flood protection measures were intensified, including sluice and Werra repairs, to minimize damages as water levels decreased slightly.
- Political figures, including Bodo Ramelow, visited flooded areas and appealed for solidarity and support, seeking to alleviate the region's hardships caused by the flooding.
Source: www.stern.de
