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Sandbag reserve in Lower Saxony empty: federal states help

Lower Saxony is now also drawing on reserves of sandbags from other federal states to combat flooding. Except for a small remainder, the state's own reserve of around 1.9 million sandbags stored since the beginning of the flood situation before Christmas has now been used, the responsible State...

Numerous sandbags are ready for the Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW). Photo.aussiedlerbote.de
Numerous sandbags are ready for the Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW). Photo.aussiedlerbote.de

Flood control - Sandbag reserve in Lower Saxony empty: federal states help

Lower Saxony is now also drawing on reserves of sandbags from other federal states to combat flooding. Except for a small remainder, the state's own reserve of around 1.9 million sandbags stored since the start of the flood situation before Christmas has now been used, the responsible state agency for water management, coastal protection and nature conservation (NLWKN) told the German Press Agency in response to an inquiry. However, the state has now received around 1.5 million more sandbags from other federal states.

The Ministry of the Interior in Hanover has organized these sandbags via the Joint Reporting and Situation Centre of the federal and state governments. North Rhine-Westphalia is helping with around 500,000 sandbags, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania with around 330,000, around 250,000 sandbags are coming from Schleswig-Holstein and around 400,000 bags from Hesse.

The sandbags are used to reinforce dykes, for example. The so-called state sandbag reserve is stored by the NLWKN at around 20 different locations in Lower Saxony - there is a large warehouse in Bad Bederkesa (district of Cuxhaven), for example. The filled sandbags are usually stored on pallets ready to be called up.

According to the NLWKN, the reserve is released for "exceptional events". Emergency services - such as the Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW) - then collect the sandbags from the storage sites. Flood situations that are localized, for example, must be managed by associations and municipalities with their own reserves.

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Source: www.stern.de

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