After heavy rainfall caused flooding and landslides in the western German state of Saarland, Chancellor Olaf Scholz took stock of the situation on Saturday and promised to help those affected.
Scholz emphasized that the priority was now on acute aid. He stated that once the immediate danger had passed, the government would coordinate with local authorities to determine what aid is necessary.
Scholz, who was wearing wellies, walked across a flooded street and spoke to those affected.
"We have a strong tradition of solidarity," said the chancellor. "Unfortunately, this is not the first time we have had to deal with a major natural disaster, so we will of course look at what needs to be done now and what is necessary."
Scholz cancelled an election campaign appearance planned for Saturday to visit the affected region.
The chancellor visited the area with state Premier Anke Rehlinger, who said, "Nobody should be left out in the rain in this difficult situation."
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser also promised help. "The federal government is supporting Saarland in particular with strong forces to protect human lives after the severe flooding and to limit the destruction caused by the masses of water as far as possible," she said.
Transport Minister Volker Wissing thanked the volunteers on the ground. "Disasters like this always show how important social cohesion is," he said.
Later, Scholz commented on the sense of community he felt in Saarland. "What I felt there was a great sense of solidarity. We can only overcome such challenges if we stick together and show solidarity," he told an election campaign event in Karlsruhe.
"When we can better assess the damage and the immediate emergency and danger situation has receded, then it will also be a matter of agreeing with each other what needs to be done to help those in need," Scholz said.
However, one of Germany's best-known climate activists, Luisa Neubauer, criticized Scholz.
"And yes, of course as chancellor you can weaken the climate law one day & travel to #flood areas the next with great concern. In the medium term, it's just a highly fragile strategy in the climate crisis," Neubauer wrote on social media platform X on Saturday.
By 2024, every weather situation will have something to do with the climate - sometimes directly, sometimes indirectly, she said.
Neubauer said Scholz's job is to sound the alarm. "That would not be 'alarmism,' that would simply be responsible in 2024. People need to know how threatening the situation is so that they can prepare themselves and prevent the worst from happening," she said.
Earlier, police said that the situation had eased somewhat. However, a spokesman for the district's technical operations centre said rescue services were still conducting a large-scale operation.
"The water levels of the Saar and other bodies of water are peaking or beginning to fall," said the spokesman. But the exact extent of the damage must still be properly assessed.
After a restless night, the clean-up began in some regions, however, the exact extent of the damage is only likely to become apparent over the next few days.
Videos showed cars half submerged in water, caravans stuck in the floodwater and numerous flooded streets. Buildings were provisionally protected with sandbags and in some cases entire streets were under water.
In the state capital of Saarbrücken, the city motorway was flooded and had to be closed. The emergency services used amphibious vehicles and boats to evacuate people.
So far, no lives are known to have been lost. One person was injured during an evacuation operation, said an official. The person had fallen into the water and was subsequently taken to hospital.
The flood was a type that occurs every 20 to 50 years, according to the state Office for Environmental Protection and Occupational Safety.
The German Weather Service (DWD) measured more than 100 litres of rain per square metre in less than 24 hours. By comparison, 74 litres of rain per square metre were measured in Saarland for all of April.
The police in Saarland recorded around 1,000 deployments by Saturday morning, in addition to thousands of deployments by fire brigades and other aid organizations.
Numerous roads in Saarland are still closed and rail traffic is also restricted, according to railway operator Deutsche Bahn (DB). It initially advised against non-essential travel to the Saarland.
Officials said that 220 people were accommodated in a gymnasium in Saarburg-Beurig. A retirement home was also evacuated in Saarburg and a hotel in Trittenheim on the Middle Moselle. Around 50 people were taken to temporary accommodation in a gymnasium.
Flooding also struck the neighbouring state of Rhineland-Palatinate, with cellars and streets under water after several rivers and smaller streams burst their banks.
The DWD cancelled all severe weather warnings in Germany early on Saturday morning.
As a result, there were no longer any warnings of "extremely heavy continuous rain" in Saarland or Rhineland-Palatinate, according to the DWD.
In the neighbouring French region of Moselle in Lorraine, officials kept the highest red alert level for flooding in place on Saturday.
