German floods and political moments 

The colossal North Sea flood of February 1962 killed over 300 people and left tens of thousands in Germany's port city of Hamburg without shelter. It was a crucial turning point in the career of future Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, then interior minister of the city state. His handling of the crisis, particularly his decision to draft in soldiers to help, gained him nationwide popularity.

The "eternal chancellor" was in the final phase of his tenure when he visited the eastern state of Brandenburg in 1997 after massive flooding along the River Oder. Sometimes dubbed the Einheitsflut, "unity flood", the disaster is often considered the first national crisis to test the solidarity between the newly reunified East and West Germanys.

The fortunes of Gerhard Schröder turned round when the rains fell in Saxony in the summer of 2002, when deadly floods affected Germany, Austria, and the Czech Republic. With his election campaign ailing, the Social Democrat chancellor donned wellington boots and portrayed himself as a crisis manager in the small eastern town of Grimma. He won the election by the barest of margins a month later. 

His opponent, Edmund Stoiber, chancellor candidate for the CDU/CSU, was caught cold by Schröder's trip – he was actually on holiday in northern Germany when the disaster struck. He only arrived in the affected area a few days later, and complained bitterly of his competitor's "flood tourism."

Angela Merkel visited flood regions several times during her chancellorship. The first major flood of her tenure came in March and April 2006, again around the River Elbe in Saxony. The disaster struck just a few months after Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in the US, when George W. Bush came under attack for failing to organize an adequate response. Merkel made sure to avoid the same criticism.

Eastern and southern Germany were hit again by extreme floods in the summer of 2013, this time a few months before an election. The historic center of Dresden was threatened as the Elbe burst its banks in widespread flooding that hit much of Central Europe. Merkel visited affected regions in Saxony and Bavaria, promising federal aid. 

CDU chancellor candidate and premier of North Rhine-Westphalia cancelled all other appointments to visit the badly affected city of Hagen in his state. The political stakes are high, as the deadly floods are being linked to climate change, and Laschet has a reputation as a protector of the state's coal industry, which could potentially damage his campaign. 

The Social Democrat candidate Olaf Scholz also appeared in the neighboring state of Rhineland-Palatinate after the floods hit, alongside state premier and party colleague Malu Dreyer (SPD). Though his party is trailing in the polls a long way behind Armin Laschet's CDU, Scholz, as the current German finance minister, was able to promise immediate federal aid for the flood-stricken regions.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited the hard-hit village of Schuld in western Germany's Eifel region on July 18. She assured locals of her support and said she would visit again in August, ahead of the country's federal elections in September.