Floods

I used to live in Upton upon Severn which can begin to look like an island when the river spreads out across the flood meadows. It's probably because of my time there that I tend to notice reports about flooding in the German news. There is some possibility of severe flooding along the Oder by Monday. You can read about this in bild.de - Hochwasser-Alarm in Brandenburg There are a couple of videos with this report but you do have to put up with a short advert at the beginning. The really severe flooding was in 1997 and you'll find some reports on that as well.

Of course, German villages and towns are not the only ones that will suffer. Poland has already been badly affected and as the report says "Auch die KZ-Gedenkstätte Auschwitz-Birkenau ist durch das Hochwasser bedroht!"

With reports like this it's worth noting down some of the key points and then try to summarise the passage. Here are some questions that you might try to answer (auf Deutsch): What is a Polder? What is the German for a stockpile of sandbags, for demountable or mobile flood barriers? What other countries have already been affected by floods? What has been improved since 1997?