Germany still tackling floods as France sends mobile dyke system
Germany continued to battle serious floods on Tuesday as forecasts for near constant rain until later in the week worried officials.
Fields in several regions of the northern state of Lower Saxony resembled lakes while there were floods on the Elbe river. Parts of the states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia were also affected.
According to the German Weather Service (DWD), heavy rainfall is expected in Lower Saxony until Thursday and Thuringia until Friday.
France is sending aid to Lower Saxony after days of heavy rainfall.
The first part of an approximately 1.2-kilometre-long mobile dyke system is expected to arrive in Germany on Tuesday, according to a spokesman for the state Interior Ministry.
"These mobile dyke systems can make an important contribution to keeping this situation under control in particularly badly affected areas," said Lower Saxony's Interior Minister Daniela Behrens.
The remaining modules are to follow on Wednesday. It was initially unclear exactly where the dyke system would be deployed.
According to the ministry, a request for help was sent to the European Commission, which passed it on to countries that could assist.
This is the second time such a request has been made from Germany, the ministry said. The last time was in 2022 when Italian firefighting aircraft were deployed to battle forest fires in the Harz Mountains.
The flood situation remains critical in some areas of Lower Saxony, the ministry spokesman in Hanover told dpa.
Further rainfall is expected, meaning water levels could rise and the situation could worsen in some places, the spokesman said.
In some municipalities, a so-called "exceptional event" has been declared, which means that districts or cities can access emergency services more easily. This level of preparedness continues to apply in six districts in Lower Saxony.
However, a spokeswoman for the Serengeti Safari Park near Hanover said the water levels there were receding.
This is good news for the park's antelopes and giraffes. Park staff had prepared an emergency evacuation plan for transporting them in an anaesthetized state, but this did not now have to be implemented.
Further south and east the water level on the river Werra in the state of Thuringia has been rising again following heavy rainfall.
Water levels are also expected to rise significantly on the Zorge, Bere and Unstrut rivers in the state. On Tuesday, water levels at four measuring points in Thuringia were already causing concern.
