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Germany: Flood warnings on Oder River in eastern Brandenburg

September 25, 2024

The highest flood warning level is in effect for a short stretch of the Oder River in Brandenburg where it marks the German border with Poland. In some more rural areas, it has already burst its banks.

https://p.dw.com/p/4l3G0
A rural area where the Oder River has burst its banks, to the north of the city of Frankfurt an der Oder near the small town of Lebus, pictured at sunrise. September 25, 2024.
In some more rural areas the Oder River has burst its banksImage: Patrick Pleul/dpa/picture-alliance

Authorities in Brandenburg in eastern Germany continue to prepare flood defenses and plans to evacuate affected areas if necessary, as high water flows along the Oder River from central Europe, which bore the brunt of major flooding last week. 

The highest flood warning level on the four-stage scale used in Germany was in effect for a stretch of the river south of the border city of Frankfurt an der Oder, with the alert level raised overnight on Tuesday. 

Deutschland Wetter l Hochwasser in Brandenburg l Fürstenberg
Image: Patrick Pleul/dpa/picture-alliance

Further downstream, in Germany's "other" Frankfurt (not to be mistaken with the financial capital on the River Main in the west) and to its north, level 3 flood warnings were in effect. 

A long stretch of the German-Polish border, including this segment of the crossing, uses the Oder as its demarcating line. 

State premier Woidke visiting flood-hit town and village

Brandenburg's state premier Dietmar Woidke was expected in two of the worst-hit areas on Wednesday. 

Authorities in the state capital, Potsdam, said Woidke wanted to inspect the situation on site in Eisenhüttenstadt, a town of almost 25,000 people to the south of Frankfurt, and then in the small border village of Razdorf, a little further to the south, where the border and the path of the river diverge.

In Ratzdorf, some roads and gardens are already underwater, with firefighters and other emergency responders trying to bolster flood defenses and prepare for any other contingencies like evacuating the village.

Photo of the water level measuring station in Ratzdorf on the River Oder in eastern Germany. The elevated site the hut sits on is surrounded by high water levels and no longer accessible by dry land. September 24, 2024.
In Ratzdorf, the Oder River measuring station itself is now more difficult to access than usualImage: Patrick Pleul/dpa/picture-alliance

A spokeswoman for the town of Eisenhüttenstadt similarly said that some roads, gardens and garages were already flooded in parts of the town.

Two roads in particular in the endangered area near the Oder's banks were affected, and "we are continuing to reinforce with sandbags," she said. 

Germany's highest warning for high water levels does not designate a state of emergency or "catastrophe scenario" as the German term directly translates to, but does say that authorities should be preparing for the possible need to react to one.

msh/wmr (AFP, dpa)