Following last night's storm, the rainwater retention basins in the city area are currently being checked.

One of these basins overflowed in the Salzgitter-Lebenstedt area. As a result, Neißestraße in Lebenstedt is currently flooded at the Rudolf-Harbig-Straße junction and is therefore fully closed at this point. As soon as the rain subsides, the rainwater retention basin there will also empty into the Krähenriede and the situation should ease.

According to the weather forecast, the rain should ease in the afternoon and then stop completely.

Lord Mayor Frank Klingebiel and Fire Department Head Eric Neiseke emphasized at the situation briefing in the professional fire department's station: "We would like to expressly thank our professional fire department, our volunteer fire department, our Salzgitter technical relief organization and all the helpers who worked together in outstanding cooperation to fight last night's heavy rain around the clock and are still helping people in need today. The personal, rapid and intensive efforts of our fire and rescue services deserve our thanks and recognition."

Due to the storm yesterday evening (July 22) and tonight, the city's fire departments had to deal with a total of 156 incidents (as of 4:15 a.m.).

The first storm-related emergency calls were received by the integrated control center of the Salzgitter fire department at around 6:15 pm.

The Salzgitter fire department was supported by units from the German Federal Agency for Technical Relief, the DLRG, Johanniter Unfallhilfe and a rescue dog team from Braunschweig.

This time, the storm affected the entire city area. Most of the operations were in the north of the city. There were a large number of flooded cellars and streets, and several fire alarm systems were triggered almost simultaneously. The Salzgitter fire department's situation management prioritized the operations according to urgency and coordinated the deployment of the helpers.

Two areas of operation were given special priority. A local incident command center was set up in Salzgitter Üfingen at short notice. The first area of rain had caused numerous flooded cellars in the district. In order to prevent further damage from the next areas of rain, sandbags were installed so that the expected water could be drained away. A contact point for people seeking help was set up in the village community center.

There was another incident yesterday evening in the Warne area. The emergency call reported that a child had fallen into the River Warne in the Salzgitter-Bad area. The large-scale search was unsuccessful and the search was discontinued. The police have also not received any reports of a missing child. Further information on this operation can be obtained from the Salzgitter, Peine, Wolfenbüttel police station, which has issued a detailed press release on the matter.

Marcus Spiller, press spokesman for the Salzgitter fire department, summed up last night's operations as follows: "The decision to staff all reserve emergency call stations proved to be the right one throughout the course of the operation. Fortunately, we have no injured emergency services personnel at the moment."