Lower Saxony fights against rising waters.
Soldiers, firefighters and residents in the German state are bracing for floods that have forced tens of thousands to evacuate in towns upstream.
The local fire chief says they are monitoring 5 kilometres of dikes, patching leaks as they arise and using 50,000-60,000 sandbags each day.
Meanwhile, the upper state of Brandenburg in east Germany remains on high alert.
The Elbe River reached a record level of 7.48 meters here over the weekend, five meters above normal.
German insurers say the cost of the floods will be more than 2.4 billion dollars, but it will be some time before they can calculate the total damage.
