There are still concerns about rising water levels in flood areas. The German Weather Service announced continuous rain, and supplies of sandbags for dike protection are running low in Lower Saxony.
There is no end in sight to the flooding in the flood areas in Germany – the water could even rise further in some areas. Still are Lower Saxonyparts North Rhine-Westphaliathe South Saxony-Anhalt and the north Thuringia particularly affected.
On Tuesday evening, many water levels in Bremen and Lower Saxony still showed the highest of the three flood reporting levels. In eastern Bavaria, reporting level two should be reached in places on Wednesday night, as the flood intelligence service of the Bavarian State Office for the Environment announced. In the Regen River catchment area in the Cham district, level three is even possible. In the Bamberg district in northern Bavaria, some rivers are also expected to reach this warning level.
Compulsory schooling suspended in Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia
In the flood area on the state border of Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia, compulsory schooling is to be suspended in some places. In Kelbra, Roßla and Wallhausen, schools will remain closed on Thursday and Friday, the Mansfeld-Südharz district announced. Emergency care will be set up. During the night in Thuringia the Leina overflowed its banks in the town of the same name.
In Altenglan in Rhineland-Palatinate, a rain retention basin could overflow due to the persistent rain. That’s why an evacuation of the buildings in one street was initially announced. The residents could stay in their houses for the time being, said a fire department spokesman for the dpa news agency. The situation remained stable at night for the time being.
Only a few sandbags left in Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony is now also using sandbag reserves from other federal states to combat flooding. With the exception of a small remainder, the company’s own reserve of around 1.9 million sandbags stored since the start of the flood situation before Christmas has now been called up, said the responsible state agency for water management, coastal and nature conservation (NLWKN).
The country has now received around 1.5 million more sandbags from other federal states. North Rhine-Westphalia is helping with around 500,000 sandbags, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania with around 330,000. Around 250,000 sandbags come from Schleswig-Holstein and around 400,000 bags from Hesse.
The sandbags are used to strengthen dikes, for example. The state company NLWKN stores the so-called state sandbag reserve in around 20 different locations in Lower Saxony. The filled sandbags are usually available for retrieval on pallets.
The weather service expects more rain
According to the weather service, high amounts of rain are expected to continue in some areas from Lower Saxony to the Black Forest as well as in the eastern and southeastern low mountain ranges until Thursday. Within 30 to 60 hours, meteorologists expect 30 to 50 liters per square meter, in mountainous areas up to 100 liters. In parts of Baden-Württemberg, warnings from the DWD about heavy, continuous rain were lifted.
The wind is also causing concern in Lower Saxony: In addition to the constant rain, it has picked up during the night and stormy gusts are possible across the country. Trees could uproot on soggy dikes and tear holes in the dikes. For this reason, trees in Celle and Oldenburg, among others, have been felled in recent days. According to the police, the wind has already snapped a few trees in the greater Oldenburg area. Dikes were not affected early in the morning.
SPD politician: Consider suspending the debt brake
In view of the flood situation, SPD budget politicians have discussed suspending the debt brake again. “The floods are causing immense damage, especially in Lower Saxony,” said SPD member of the Bundestag Andreas Schwarz to “Spiegel”. “We could suspend the debt brake for these costs.” This is also possible after the recent budget ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court. “After all, this is an unforeseeable natural disaster. The verdict leaves room for that,” said Schwarz.
The budget spokesman for the SPD parliamentary group, Dennis Rohde, told the magazine “Stern”: “The full extent of the flood damage cannot yet be foreseen, but for exactly such cases we have the option of suspending the debt brake in the Basic Law.” The ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court did not change this. “We will now examine carefully whether we can achieve this financial dimension.”
The debt brake stipulates that the federal and state budgets must be balanced without income from loans. However, according to the Basic Law, it can be suspended in the event of natural disasters or other exceptional emergencies if the state’s financial situation is significantly impaired. The federal government is currently examining whether the flood aid following the 2021 flood disaster in the Ahr Valley justifies suspending the debt brake again this year.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) visited the current flood area in northern Lower Saxony on Sunday. He assured that the federal government would support the affected states and municipalities “with all its options” in dealing with the situation. Scholz did not make any concrete promises for financial aid.
Thomas Stahlberg, NDR, tagesschau, January 3rd, 2024 7:32 a.m