Germany Floods for the First Time in a Century

German authorities announced today, Saturday, the evacuation of hundreds of residents and the suspension of operations at a power generation station in southwestern Germany due to floods and heavy rain. The civil defense office in Saarland urged residents to "exercise utmost caution and avoid going into the basements of their homes, especially after part of a water barrier collapsed in the town of Kifersheid." This collapse led to the suspension of operations at the power generation station in the area, according to the German newspaper "Bild," which noted that "the flooding has not been seen for a century." German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is expected to visit the area on Saturday. In the neighboring state of Rhineland-Palatinate, firefighters urged about 200 residents of the town of Schoden to evacuate their homes as water levels rose. The meteorological agency issued a warning of "massive" floods in southwestern regions of the country, particularly in Saarland and parts of Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Hesse, and North Rhine-Westphalia.