Floods - Situation in Lower Saxony remains "extremely critical" - Scholz visits flood area in Saxony-Anhalt
Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz plans to visit regions in Saxony-Anhalt affected by flooding this Thursday. He had already visited flooded areas in Lower Saxony on New Year's Eve. This time, the Chancellor will be accompanied by Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke and Minister President Reiner Haseloff.
Together, the politicians want to find out about the flood situation in Oberröblingen, a district of Sangerhausen. An appointment is planned at the dyke at the Helme bridge, which is in danger of collapsing - together with the district administrator of the Mansfeld-Südharz district, André Schröder.
Scholz wants to meet volunteers in flood areas
This will be followed by a meeting with the head of operations, the emergency services and the mayors of the affected municipalities. Following this, Scholz, Lemke and Haseloff want to travel to a sandbag filling facility in the village of Berga and talk to volunteers. They also want to comment on the situation there.
A state of emergency was declared in the Mansfeld-Südharz district shortly before the turn of the year. The Helme had overflowed its banks in places. Several towns along the river are currently under threat.
In other federal states too, especially in Lower Saxony, the emergency services have been battling against masses of water for days. Many water gauges in Lower Saxony and parts of Bremen continue to show the highest reporting level. Although it is expected to remain largely dry on Thursday, the situation threatens to worsen in some places after the continuous rain of the past few days. The catchment areas of the Aller, Leine, Oker, Hase and Hunte rivers are affected.
"We are still in an extremely critical situation and we are fully concentrating on combating the floods," said Lower Saxony's Minister President Stephan Weil (SPD) on NDR television on Wednesday evening.
Agriculture also affected by floods
The special thing about the current situation is that there are floods on many rivers and places at the same time, said Torsten Schlurmann, Head of the Ludwig-Franzius-Institute for Hydraulic, Estuarine and Coastal Engineering at the Leibniz University of Hanover, to the German Press Agency. In addition, the situation has lasted for days. "We are not seeing a fast-flowing flood wave on the rivers, but rather that the water is virtually standing still. Due to the prolonged backwater, there is now a risk that the dykes will reach their limits," said Schlurmann.
The water is also affecting agriculture. According to the farmers' association, almost every farmer in Lower Saxony is currently affected by flooding in their fields or by water damage.
Flood aid for Lower Saxony is also coming from abroad: a team from the French civil defense wants to erect a mobile dyke near Winsen an der Aller on Thursday. Lower Saxony's Minister of the Interior, Daniela Behrens, wants to see the construction for herself on site.
Read also:
- Year of climate records: extreme is the new normal
- Precautionary arrests show Islamist terror threat
- UN vote urges Israel to ceasefire
- SPD rules out budget resolution before the end of the year
Source: www.stern.de
