Merkel to Visit Flooded-Stricken Regions of Germany Members of the German Army patrol the historic city of Passau, after persistent rains flooded rivers in the region. BERLIN - Chancellor Angela Merkel planned on Tuesday to visit southern and eastern Germany, where residents have spent recent days struggling to pile sandbags for dikes and evacuate inundated villages as persistent rains swelled rivers to levels not seen in five centuries. The Danube River peaked at 42 feet and 3 inches, or nearly 13 meters, late Monday in the southeastern city of Passau, the authorities there said, and began to recede overnight. Officials said that was the highest point in 500 years. Residents of the city's historic center have had to leave their homes, and electricity, telephone and drinking water services in much of the city have been temporarily suspended. Elsewhere along the Danube, the situation remained critical as sodden dams threatened to give way between Passau and Regensburg. Meteorologists said they expected an end to the rainfall that has soaked the country for the past month in an unusually gloomy wet spring, bringing hope that the worst may be over. Flooding has also affected Austria, the Czech Republic and Switzerland. At least eight people died and nine were missing across the region, The Associated Press reported. The German Army sent 1,760 soldiers to states in the affected region to help the police, rescue workers and volunteers. Many of them worked through the night filling and stacking sandbags in an effort to reinforce dikes and other barriers along the Danube, Elbe and Inn rivers. Ms. Merkel has pledged government support for the affected regions that in addition to suffering flood damage will lose important tourist income because of the high water. She is to tour some of the worst-hit areas later Tuesday.