Saxony will initially be spared from serious flood damage. Neighboring states have been hit harder. Prime Minister Kretschmer offers them help.
Dresden’s Elbe meadow submerged on Tuesday Photo: Robert Michael/dpa
Dresden Taz | Bright sunshine in Dresden – but parts of Europe are suffering from flood disaster. The low called ‘Annet’ has now been pushed eastwards by a ‘5b weather condition’ filled with hot, humid Mediterranean air. The destruction between Austria and Poland can only be seen in the high water levels of the Elbe and Neisse rivers in Saxony and Brandenburg due to heavy rain. Heavy rain is increasing due to the climate crisis. Warmer air can hold more moisture. At some point, it will fall again as rain.
As expected, the Nice Index has been on a downward trend since Monday. There is no need to fear floods like those in 2010 in Bad Muskau on the German-Polish border. In Görlitz, a woman who fell into the water was able to save herself on land after swimming hundreds of metres through the current. Otherwise, Saxony complains only of minor property damage.
In Dresden, the partially collapsed Carola Bridge on the wide river remains a popular photo motif. By Wednesday, water levels there are expected to rise to about 6 metres, about 3.5 metres less than the century-old flood of 2002. It is not yet clear whether the second-highest alert level, 3, should be declared.
However, water levels are expected to fall slowly due to the Czech government’s management of the Vltava dam. The city of Dresden and the state of Saxony say the situation is manageable. The Green Alliance’s Environment Minister Wolfram Günther expressed relief that the free state was out of the water again.
Czech ‘Armageddon’, Poland’s catastrophe
The same goes for our Polish and Czech neighbors. Now Saxony’s Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer (CDU) has offered them help. The Lower Silesian Voivodeship has reportedly already accepted. The worst-hit town of Nysa, in southern Poland, north of the Bohemian Jeseniki Mountains, was also affected by the heavy rains. A dam collapsed here. All 40,000 residents had to evacuate the flooded town. In ARD and ZDF’s “Mittagsmagazin,” one resident spoke of “Armageddon,” the place of the final battle in the Bible. Poland has declared a state of national disaster.
In all flooded areas, there are concerns about the subsequent collapse of weakened levees even after the rains have stopped. Ostrava in the Czech Republic, on the side of Lower Austria, which has been particularly affected, is largely underwater. In St. Pölten, more than 500 litres per square metre have reportedly fallen in the past few days, which is statistically several times the monthly amount. Hungary is concerned that the ‘Danube surge’ from Bavaria and Austria is still growing stronger.
