Prime Minister - Water levels remain high in many places: "Enormously critical situation"
Even after more than a week, there is hardly any relief in sight for the flood areas. 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 continuous rain of the past few days threatens to exacerbate the situation in some places, according to the warning situation report of the Lower Saxony Water Management, Coastal Defence and Nature Conservation Agency (NLWKN). 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 concentrating fully on combating the floods," said Lower Saxony's Minister President Stephan Weil (SPD) on NDR television on Wednesday evening.
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 Leibniz Universität Hannover, 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.
Dykes are softened, roads are flooded and cellars are full - and the water is also affecting agriculture. According to the Lower Saxony Farmers' Association, almost every farmer is currently affected by flooding or water damage to their fields. This is due to the large amounts of rainfall in recent weeks, the Landvolk in Hanover told dpa when asked. It is currently not possible to estimate exactly how many agricultural areas have been directly affected by the flooding of nearby rivers or other bodies of water.
"Several hundred thousand hectares of arable land and grassland have been flooded," said Landvolk President Holger Hennies. Hundreds of farms were also affected by flooding, "but fortunately only very few farms were so badly affected that stables were also affected and livestock had to be evacuated."
Flood aid for Lower Saxony is also coming from abroad: a team from the French civil defense erected a mobile dyke near Winsen an der Aller in the district of Celle on Thursday. Lower Saxony's Minister of the Interior, Daniela Behrens, wants to see the construction for herself on site. According to the Ministry, the request for this mobile dyke was sent to the EU Commission via the joint federal and state reporting and situation center.
Press release from the Lower Saxony Ministry of Agriculture dated 29.12. on the effects of the floods on agriculture Warning situation reports from the NLWKN
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Source: www.stern.de
