German chancellor tours flooded regions in the northwest, praises authorities and volunteers

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has taken a helicopter flight to check the flooded regions in the northwest of the country, where rivers have swelled and overflowed homes, roads and fields after weeks of heavy rain

BERLIN -- German Chancellor Olaf Scholz took a helicopter flight Sunday to check the flooded regions in the northwest of the country, where rivers have swelled and overflowed homes, roads and fields after weeks of heavy rain.

In recent days, hundreds of people have been evacuated from affected areas in northern and eastern Germany as a precaution.

Scholz landed in the morning in the town of Verden in Lower Saxony where dikes along rivers were soaked with water and close to bursting in some parts of the state.

Talking to reporters near the Aller river which has flooded parts of Verden, Scholz thanked "the police, the fire department, the federal agency for technical relief and the German Armed Forces” for their joint efforts.

“It is important that we stick together,” he said.