Hardly any all-clear in the flood areas: The situation remained tense in Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia on Friday, but in Saxony the risk of flooding has largely been averted. But the German Weather Service (DWD) predicted further rainfall. “There will be a lot of momentum again until Saturday, but it will no longer rain in such large quantities,” said meteorologist Christian Herold from the German Weather Service (DWD) on Friday in Offenbach. Then tone it down a little. According to Herold, the greatest amounts of rain are expected on Friday and Saturday in the north of North Rhine-Westphalia. The meteorologist expects less precipitation in the north in the Bremen and Hamburg area.
But the situation in Lower Saxony is still tense. Although fears of a storm surge have not yet been confirmed and the flood situation varies regionally – the all-clear cannot yet be given for the whole of Lower Saxony, said state fire director Dieter Rohrberg on Friday in Hanover. Accordingly, the situation is shifting slightly from the Harz towards the Celle and Oldenburg districts.
The Ministry of the Environment also did not give the all-clear for North Rhine-Westphalia, despite stagnating or falling water levels. “We still have a major flood situation,” said NRW Environment Minister Oliver Krischer (Greens) in Düsseldorf. So far the consequences have remained manageable and there have been no casualties. There is no risk of dam failure at the dams, nor an uncontrolled overflow. The flood protection systems would have held.
In Saxony, the Elbe flood reached its peak on Friday. The maximum water level remained lower than initially forecast. The State Environment Agency announced that the risk of flooding for the other rivers in Saxony has now been completely eliminated. The city of Dresden began dismantling a flood protection gate. In the state capital, the water level of the Elbe rose to 5.95 meters – and thus remained below the six-meter mark at which the second highest alert level 3 would have been declared. Two meters is normal. The guideline for alert level 3 is also not reached downstream in Riesa.
Lower Saxony’s Interior Minister Daniela Behrens (SPD) said that the focus of the floods had shifted in recent days with the water masses from the southeast to the northwest of the country. According to state fire director Rohrberg, a so-called extraordinary event has been detected in six districts and the city of Oldenburg. Due to the so-called extraordinary event, districts can, for example, access relief workers more easily.
The flooding continues to cause high water levels in numerous places in Lower Saxony. This emerges from a situation report from the State Office for Water Management, Coastal and Nature Conservation (NLWKN) from Friday morning. The water level measured at 7 a.m. exceeded the highest reporting level in many areas. This affected several places on the Weser, Aller and Leine. Downstream of the Weser, the water levels would rise even further. Particularly in the lower reaches of the Middle Weser, it is not yet possible to speak of an easing of tensions.
The Federal Police and the Navy were each deployed in flood operations near Oldenburg with one helicopter. “The state of Lower Saxony has requested one of our helicopters,” said a spokeswoman for the federal police in Berlin on Friday. The two helicopters bring particularly large sandbags to the dikes near Hatte to secure them, as a spokesman for the volunteer fire department said.
A retirement home in Meppen located directly on the Ems had to be evacuated as a precautionary measure due to the flooding. A total of 52 residents were taken out of the house on Thursday evening with the support of the German Red Cross, said the city’s press spokeswoman, Petra Büter.
The Serengeti Park Hodenhagen prepared for further evacuations of animals with an emergency plan. The house of the antelopes and giraffes, which is surrounded by water, is particularly worrying, said a spokeswoman for the zoo. “These animals would have to be anesthetized for evacuation, which is a big risk.”
The extreme end to the year fits in with 2023 as a whole – the rainiest and warmest year in NRW since records began, said NRW Environment Minister Oliver Krischer. In view of climate change, he believes that such extreme situations are to be expected more frequently in the future.
In order to achieve “pre-relief” before new rainfall, i.e. to create storage space, many dams in North Rhine-Westphalia are currently releasing more water, as expert Matthias Börger from the Environment Ministry reported. He does not see any risk of overloading in any system.
A small district of Kleve on the Lower Rhine was still surrounded by water – and so became an island a few days ago. A ferry boat ensured that the residents of Schenkenschanz got across the Rhine. In the Soest district, the crisis team looked worriedly at the Lippe, whose water level remained at a high level. Several thousand sandbags were filled as a precaution, especially for the Lippetal community.
In Thuringia, the opening of a Helme dike brought relief from the flood situation in the town of Mönchpfiffel-Nikolausrieth in the Kyffhäuser district. The situation in the 300-inhabitant village right on the border with Saxony-Anhalt, which has been critical since Thursday, has eased, a spokesman for the district office said on Friday. The dike near the town was opened in a controlled manner on Thursday evening to divert water from the river onto fields.
