Many corporations have announced donations to alleviate human suffering and the enormous damage in the German flood regions.

The Schwarz Group (Lidl, Kaufland) announced the largest donation to date.

She transfers ten million euros for the flood victims.

"We are experiencing one of the greatest catastrophes that Germany has ever had to deal with," the company said in "Bild am Sonntag".

The money will therefore go to the “Germany helps” campaign, an alliance of 23 aid organizations that are active in the flood areas in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate.

The decision for the million dollar aid was made by the group owner Dieter Schwarz and the managing directors of the four subsidiaries.

The energy group RWE announced that it would transfer one million euros to aid organizations and regional initiatives in an immediate program.

“The images of the flood disaster are staggering.

We feel for those affected, including many of our employees, ”said CEO Markus Krebber.

Support Henkel and Vonovia

The Düsseldorf consumer goods group Henkel has put together an emergency aid package of 600,000 euros.

In addition, affected employees are to be supported and all those who want to help are to be released with payment.

"We are deeply affected, and our thoughts go with the people who mourn their loved ones, have been injured or whose houses have been destroyed," said Henkel CEO Carsten Knobel.

The company donates to the German Red Cross and the Technical Relief Organization through its own Fritz Henkel Foundation and also wants to distribute household hygiene, cleaning and personal care products on site.

The Ludwigshafen-based chemical company BASF is also donating one million euros to the Red Cross to support the affected flood regions in Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia.

The housing company Vonovia has offered apartments in the Eschweiler, Cologne, Bonn and Leverkusen area that would be freely available to those in need.

"In addition, the apartments are free of charge for a period of one month and can be moved in without a deposit," said the largest German housing company.

Anyone who has suffered a total loss of the apartment can then take over rental contracts “without problems and at short notice”.

Deutsche Bank is also donating 500,000 euros

The hardware store chain Obi has called on citizens to hand in drying equipment, pumps or other devices that they don't need at the moment in the hardware stores.

They are then to be transported to the stores in the affected regions, and the material donors receive a voucher worth a new device.

In addition, there is a 20 percent discount for customers of the DIY store, which belongs to the Tengelmann Group, in the affected regions.

Competitors like Toom, Hornbach and Bauhaus do the same.

Food discounters such as Kaufland and Penny have also started aid campaigns or distributed food to helpers.

The consumer goods group Procter & Gamble is also donating one million euros to various aid organizations.

In addition, the team at the Pampers plant in Euskirchen is helping with various on-site measures.

The Deutsche Bank stated that its employees had donated more than 30,000 euros privately, now the bank is increasing this amount by 500,000 euros.

The German Central Institute for Social Issues (DZI) calls on the population to donate money for those affected by the severe weather disaster in Germany. "Donations in money can be used much more flexibly and efficiently than donations in kind," said DZI Deputy Managing Director Christel Neff on Monday. According to Neff, donations in kind make sense above all if the local aid organizations ask for them.

Neff is pleased about the "enormous sympathy" of many people.

In view of the "great demand" for donation information on the DZI homepage, Neff assumes that a two-digit million sum will be raised through private donations.

For comparison: In the flood disasters in 2002 and 2013, according to the DZI, citizens donated 350 million and almost 160 million euros, respectively.

The federal cabinet wants to decide on Wednesday about state aid for the flood victims and the reconstruction of the infrastructure.

However, Neff does not believe that government support will be enough to fully finance the reconstruction.