Chancellor Scholz to visit flood-hit areas in northern Germany

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is expected to visit the flood-hit areas in the country's northern state of Lower Saxony today, local officials said on Sunday morning.

Scholz is set to travel to the town of Verden, some 90 kilometres north-west of Hanover, in the morning, the Lower Saxony state chancellery said.

He will be accompanied by state premier Stephan Weil and state Interior Minister Daniela Behrens.

For days, thousands of emergency forces have been battling the fallout from heavy rainfall in several parts of Germany. Areas in the states of Lower Saxony, southern Saxony-Anhalt on the border with Thuringia and North Rhine-Westphalia are particularly affected by flooding.

After the rainfall had recently eased slightly, meteorologists are expecting more rain over the next few days, leading to fears that river levels could rise again.

The authorities are particularly concerned about softened dykes.

Scholz will first participate in a flyover of the particularly affected areas in northern Lower Saxony, before the group will be briefed on the situation in Verden on the Aller river at around 11 am (1000 GMT), according to the chancellery.

Scholz is then expected to speak to citizens affected by the floods, before he is set to thank members of the emergency forces, who are likely to spend New Year's Eve fighting against the water.

After a series of floods in Germany in recent years, chancellors in the past have also travelled to areas hit by disaster in a sign of support to those battling the waters.

In 2021, for example, then chancellor Angela Merkel went to the Ahr Valley in western Germany, which was devastated by flash flooding. She offered support to those affected by the deadly waters in the states of Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine Westphalia.