2023-12-27 12:25:08
Hundreds of people had to leave their homes over the Christmas holidays because of flooding – swelling watercourses and overflowing dams could force others to flee. Authorities from Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt said on Tuesday that the situation would remain tense in the next few days. The weather forecast offers some hope: According to the German Weather Service (DWD) forecast, there will be some rain in the northwest on Wednesday, otherwise it will remain dry with some major loosening.
After days of continuous rain, the flood situation in many regions of Germany worsened over the holidays. In Saxony-Anhalt, around 180 residents of the town of Thürungen were asked on Tuesday to seek safety at the Kelbra reservoir and the Helme due to the threat of flooding. Elsewhere in the region, residents should prepare for possible evacuations. The extent of possible flooding is difficult to predict, said a spokeswoman for the Mansfeld-Südharz district.
Still no electricity in Windehausen
Hundreds of people also had to leave their houses and apartments on Christmas holidays due to flooding in Rinteln in Lower Saxony and in Windehausen in the Nordhausen district in Thuringia. As here, rivers overflowing their banks in other federal states transformed the surrounding area into large-scale water landscapes. Softened dams burst in Northeim in southern Lower Saxony and Uplengen in the Leer district. Helpers were on constant duty to secure the battered bulwarks with sandbags.
In Windehausen, Thuringia, the situation had eased significantly on Tuesday, a police spokesman said early on Wednesday morning. The water levels in Thuringia have largely decreased.
Windehausen in Thuringia on Boxing Day 2023: Image: dpa
In the flooded town in northern Thuringia, a crisis team is now supposed to advise on what to do next. Above all, it is a question of whether and when people can go back into their homes, said a spokesman. According to the spokesman, there was still no electricity in Windehausen on Wednesday morning.
While the situation began to ease regionally as the rains eased, other areas were still facing the most critical situation. The highest water levels of a flood wave on the Elbe were not expected until Wednesday. It was said that this was due to the melting snow and heavy rainfall in the Giant Mountains.
Depending on the snow melt in the Giant Mountains
The flooding of the Elbe in Dresden is approaching the second highest alert level of three. The relevant water level of six meters will probably be reached in the afternoon. On Wednesday morning, 5.86 meters were measured in Dresden, as the State Flood Center in Dresden announced. The city of Dresden had already declared alert level three on Tuesday evening.
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It was originally expected that the six-meter mark would be reached in the morning. There is a slight delay, said the spokeswoman for the state flood center, Karin Bernhardt. The increase in water levels depends on the melting of snow in the Giant Mountains. In Schöne on the Czech border, alert level three is already in effect with a water level of 6.28 meters.
According to the flood control center, flood warning levels apply to all rivers in Saxony with the exception of the Upper White Elster. For the tributaries of the Upper Elbe, it is expected that the warning can be lifted during the day.
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