storm
No all-clear in flood areas – rain expected
The Pretzien weir was last opened in June 2013. Now, too, it is intended to ensure that a third of the Elbe’s water flows into a 21-kilometer-long canal. photo
© Simon Kremer/dpa
The flood situation in parts of Germany is likely to remain tense today. A key question is how much rain falls.
In Lower Saxony, areas on the rivers Aller, Leine and Weser in the southern and central parts of the country are affected. The situation there worsened further on Thursday. The dikes could no longer withstand the masses of water everywhere. Thousands of relief workers are deployed across the country. Evacuations have been prepared in some places. In the community of Langlingen in the Celle district, around 120 people left their houses and apartments as a precautionary measure. In the morning, the state government wants to give an update on the flood situation at a press conference.
Because: “Experts have been warning for a long time”
Prime Minister Stephan Weil (SPD) said on Thursday that there had never been a flood of this magnitude before. “Experts have long warned that the increasingly frequent extreme weather events are linked to climate change,” he said. According to the Ministry of the Interior, a so-called extraordinary event was detected in six districts and the city of Oldenburg. With this measure, districts can, for example, more easily access support staff.
There is still no all-clear around Bremen either. According to the authorities on Thursday evening, numerous houses along the Wümme in the Katrepel area are surrounded by water and without electricity. Most of the residents have left this area. In the Timmersloh district the water is at the dikes. Streets and fields are flooded. According to the interior authorities, measures to secure the dike have already had to be taken several times.
No all-clear on the Elbe yet
Water levels on the Elbe in Dresden are expected to rise. 5.92 meters were measured early Thursday afternoon. That was still just below the six meter mark, from which the second highest alert level 3 would apply. The state flood control center expected that this limit would be exceeded in the morning – but only very slightly at a maximum of 6.01 meters. A water level of 2.00 meters is normal in the Elbe in the state capital.
The hydrologists expected the Elbe floodwaters to recede from today, as a spokesman for the State Office for the Environment, Agriculture and Geology said. Only slight rain is expected locally, and in the Czech Elbe catchment area there has been no precipitation or snow melt to date.
Downstream in Magdeburg and Schönebeck in Saxony-Anhalt, the state agency for flood protection and water management opened the Pretziener weir on Thursday. This means that around a third of the Elbe’s water is channeled past the two cities through a flood canal and over meadows and fields before flowing back into the Elbe.
In the north of Thuringia, attention is directed towards the Kelbra dam, from which water was drained. In the village of Mönchpfiffel-Nikolausrieth there was a risk that around 30 houses would be flooded, as a spokesman for the Ministry of the Interior announced on Thursday. Emergency services had set up 6,000 sandbags on the river bank to prevent this. According to the information, the water was about ten centimeters below the edge of the bank.