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Water levels on a downward trend: floods are easing

It was a very wet Christmas in Thuringia. The inhabitants of Windehausen are still struggling with the consequences of the flooding, but otherwise the situation in Thuringia has eased.

Floods in Thuringia. Photo.aussiedlerbote.de
Floods in Thuringia. Photo.aussiedlerbote.de

Weather - Water levels on a downward trend: floods are easing

After the Christmas floods in several regions of Thuringia, the situation continued to ease on Wednesday. "The water levels are all trending downwards at the moment," said Nils Fröhlich, spokesman for the State Office for the Environment, Mining and Nature Conservation. At one gauge - on the Werra in Gerstungen - level 2 was reached in the afternoon. It can be assumed that the water level here will also fall in the course of Wednesday, according to the spokesman. At four gauging stations on the Werra, Nahe and Unstrut rivers, water levels were still at warning level 1. Nine other gauging stations, including those on the Werra, Schwarza and Ilm rivers, were above the start of the report, i.e. at the early warning level.

According to the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of the Environment, it is still unclear what damage the floods have caused. In the town of Windehausen (Nordhausen district), which was evacuated due to the flooding, emergency services from the technical relief organization and the fire department began pumping water out of flooded cellars. They also checked the electrical installations, as Heringen's mayor Matthias Marquardt said. The power supply in the village, which had been interrupted due to the flood, had not yet been restored.

Windehausen, with 500 inhabitants, is a district of Heringen. According to Marquardt, the village was flooded by meltwater from the River Zorge and groundwater that had been pushed upwards. On Christmas Day, the water was around 70 centimetres high on the streets, but has since drained away again.

According to the state office, the reservoirs and retention basins are almost full to the brim after the intense rainfall before and over Christmas. In view of the easing situation, water can now be released again in a controlled manner.

According to the forecasts of the German Weather Service, the flood situation in Thuringia is expected to ease further over the next few days. According to the meteorologists, it should remain dry on Thursday, but become stormy. On Friday and Saturday it is expected to rain occasionally.

Flood news center DWD forecast

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Source: www.stern.de

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