Floods in northern Germany - Waiting for the new rain - Olaf Scholz travels to affected areas
Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) is traveling to the flood area in northern Lower Saxony, according to the Lower Saxony State Chancellery. Scholz, Lower Saxony's Minister President Stephan Weil (SPD) and State Interior Minister Daniela Behrens (SPD) are expected to arrive in Verden near Bremen on Sunday morning.
Scholz thanks the aid workers
In addition to a sightseeing flight over the affected areas, Scholz, Weil and Behrens want to talk to citizens who have been affected by the floods. Afterwards, the Chancellor would like to thank the relief workers, according to the State Chancellery.
For many volunteer fire departments, the Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW) and many other helpers, the floods mean that they will probably have to spend the New Year in action. The authorities have recently been particularly concerned about softened dykes.
In recent decades, heads of government have repeatedly traveled to areas affected by flooding. In 2021, then German Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) encouraged the people of the Ahr Valley in Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia.
Are river levels rising again?
For days, thousands of emergency services have been battling the consequences of heavy rainfall in several areas of Germany. Parts of Lower Saxony, southern Saxony-Anhalt on the border with Thuringia and areas in North Rhine-Westphalia are particularly affected. The weather situation had recently eased slightly. However, meteorologists are expecting more rain over the next few days. Aid workers fear that the river levels could then rise again.
The Lower Saxony State Agency for Water Management, Coastal Defence and Nature Conservation had announced that several water levels had peaked and would fall again. According to the information, however, the water levels in the middle and lower reaches of the Aller, Leine and Oker would remain at the current level for the time being.
The German Weather Service (DWD) predicted showery rain in some areas in the north-west and west for the morning of New Year's Eve. For Tuesday, it predicted persistent and heavy rain in parts of Germany. There is great concern that the situation on the rivers could worsen again.
"Disaster tourists are annoying"
To save the emergency services extra work, several cities in Lower Saxony, such as Celle, recommend that fireworks and firecrackers are not set off on New Year's Eve. The emergency services are already working at full capacity due to the flooding. In some cases, bans on fireworks were also issued, such as in the municipality of Lilienthal in the district of Osterholz near Bremen.
The district also feared that many onlookers would be out and about in the flood area on New Year's Eve. State Interior Minister Daniela Behrens described onlookers and disaster tourists as annoying. "Many people are traveling to see the masses of water. They ignore the barriers." There have already been several cases in which the fire department had to rescue onlookers, said the Minister of the Interior.
Read also:
- Rain expected again: The situation in the flood areas remains threatening
- Flood situation remains tense - more rain forecast
- Flood situation remains tense - weir on the Elbe is opened
- Fallen trees, train cancellations, storm surge - "Zoltan" blows through parts of Germany
Source: www.stern.de
