Days of continuous rain posed challenges for residents and emergency services in many regions of Germany over Christmas.
Due to the threat of flooding at the full Kelbra reservoir and the Helme, the Mansfeld-Südharz district (Saxony-Anhalt) asked the residents of the town of Thürungen to evacuate. “All residents are asked to leave their homes by 6 p.m. at the latest,” a district spokeswoman said in the afternoon. There are around 180 people.
They were told to go to relatives or friends. An emergency shelter has been set up on Ziegelhüttenstrasse in Kelbra. Thürungen belongs to the municipality of Goldene Aue.
After the continuous rain in the past few days, the Kelbra reservoir has reached its capacity limit and there is a risk of flooding in the towns along the Helme. According to the district, places in the municipalities of Goldene Aue, Südharz, Sangerhausen and Allstedt are affected. Residents there should also prepare for possible evacuations.
In Windehausen, Thuringia, people had to leave their houses and apartments on Christmas Day. The place was evacuated on Monday due to the critical flood situation. Of the almost 500 residents, an estimated 100 are still in the town, according to Matthias Marquardt, mayor of the town of Heringen, to which Windehausen belongs.
A ban on entering Windehausen was imposed in the afternoon. This was intended to prevent limited access for rescue workers and disaster tourists, said Marquardt. “The situation is currently still critical, but stable.”
The situation in the Goslar district in Lower Saxony is less stable. There the Oker Dam in the Harz Mountains has reached its maximum capacity. The Braunschweig city administration announced at midday that more water would now be released into the Oker via the overflow of the dam. Instead of 16 cubic meters per second, 30 cubic meters per second now flow into the river. The wave is expected to arrive in the city late in the evening. Because of the threat of the Oker flood, the city of Braunschweig has closed several streets near the river.
In the town of Rinteln in the Schaumburg district, residents of a street directly next to the city wall were evacuated in the morning, as the city administration announced. According to NDR, 108 residents were evacuated. The basements of the buildings on the affected street were full. The fire department is on site with pumps and stacking sandbags.
Lower Saxony’s Prime Minister Stephan Weil (SPD) got an idea of the flood situation in the country. During a visit to Northeim, where a dam had burst, he thanked the tens of thousands of helpers for their efforts over the Christmas holidays.
The Lower Saxony State Office for Water Management, Coastal and Nature Conservation (NLWKN) expects a tense flood situation to continue in the coming days. “In fact, the situation throughout Lower Saxony is very tense,” said NLWKN director Anne Rickmeyer. Rickmeyer emphasized that water levels are expected to rise in many parts of the country in the coming days. “We have flood situations in the large rivers, but of course we also have many small streams that are swelling all over the country.”
The flood situation in North Rhine-Westphalia also remains tense. “We mostly have rising or constant flood levels,” said a spokesman for the Environment Ministry in Düsseldorf. This leads to pressure on the dikes.
With a few exceptions, the water levels on rivers and streams in Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland are declining – and it is likely to stay that way in the coming days. “The trend is falling,” said a spokesman for the flood reporting service in Mainz. There could possibly be an increase again in the new year. “But that’s still a thing of the future,” he said. The German Weather Service also did not expect large amounts of rain in the next few days. According to the flood forecast center, the highest levels had already been reached on the Upper Rhine, the highest levels were expected on the Middle Rhine during the day, and the water should then recede here too.
The flood situation is also tending to ease in Bavaria and Hesse. According to forecasts, the maximum levels at the levels relevant for the state have largely been reached or have already passed, said the Hessian State Office for Nature Conservation, Environment and Geology (HLNUG). The peak is only expected on the Main, but according to current calculations this will only happen in the area of reporting level 1.
After all: After days of continuous rain, the DWD has lifted all of its severe weather warnings that were temporarily in effect for several federal states. The DWD announced at midday in Offenbach that the rain had eased or lost intensity. “No heavy rainfall is expected until further notice.”
