Augsburg/Ravensburg. In southern Germany, helpers are on uninterrupted duty after continuous rain, and an operation ends tragically. An ICE train derailed in Baden-Württemberg. When will the weather improve?
Broken dams, a dead firefighter and people being rescued from flooded homes: continuous heavy rain is causing flooding in parts of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg. Tens of thousands of emergency services are pumping out basements and protecting streets and levees with sandbags. Several districts have declared disaster alerts. In Schwäbisch Gmünd, Baden-Württemberg, an ICE train derailed after a landslide. Accidents with injuries occur on the roads due to hydroplaning. The German Weather Service (DWD) has not yet given the go-ahead and is forecasting more rain.
Bundeswehr soldiers help in Bavaria
There are extreme amounts of rain that have been falling since Friday night that the ground simply cannot absorb anymore. Several streams and rivers in southern Germany overflowed, with Bavaria being particularly affected. For example, in Bad Wörishofen, west of Munich, according to the DWD, 129 liters fell in 24 hours during heavy rains. The average is 101 liters per month. Firefighters and other emergency teams are in constant use – to pump water, isolate areas, but also to save lives.
Two people are still missing
A 42-year-old firefighter died during a rescue operation in Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm in Upper Bavaria. According to the responsible district office, he capsized during an operation with three colleagues in the rubber boat and was rescued dead early in the morning. His death caused consternation. Another firefighter is missing in Offingen, Swabia. The 22-year-old was also traveling by boat. A woman is suspected to be missing in a flooded basement in Schrobenhausen.
The catastrophe warning is in effect in more than ten districts. In the district of Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm, the situation came to a head at noon. A fire department spokesman spoke of an unpredictable flood, “which we have never had to record before”.
Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder and Federal Economy Minister Robert Habeck visited the affected areas. Chancellor Olaf Scholz wants to get an idea of the situation on Monday. Politicians praised the work of the emergency services.
Man suffers electric shock
It is not yet possible to estimate the extent of the damage. Meteorologists and authorities urgently warned of the dangers at an early stage. The accidents mainly occurred on the roads because there was probably a lot of water on them. A man was seriously injured during electrical work at the Allershausen town hall in the Freising district of Upper Bavaria. The 27-year-old employee of an energy company suffered an electric shock, a spokesman for the Upper Bavarian North police headquarters said.
According to the Ministry of the Interior, 3,000 people have been affected by evacuations so far in Bavaria alone. People were also taken from their homes by boats and helicopters. Many people don’t know if they can go back there. In many places electricity was turned off as a precautionary measure. Therefore, many people can no longer communicate if their cell phone battery is empty.
No injuries in ICE crash
Passengers on the ICE were lucky when it derailed near Schwäbisch Gmünd. According to Deutsche Bahn, no one was injured in the accident on Saturday night. The route between Stuttgart and Munich, important for long-distance traffic, has been temporarily closed. The train has now been recovered. According to a railway spokesman, the first two carriages on the journey from Munich to Cologne jumped off the tracks but did not tip over.
Passengers will also have to prepare for restrictions on rail traffic on Monday due to storms in southern Germany. Deutsche Bahn has therefore extended its goodwill policy: anyone who has purchased a ticket for the period from Sunday to this Monday up to and including Sunday and wants to postpone their trip due to the damage caused by the storm can travel later. The company announced that the rail connection has been suspended for these tickets. According to a spokeswoman, it is not yet possible to quantify the extent to which traffic will be affected.
But patience is also needed on the roads: for example, the A9 near Ingolstadt in Upper Bavaria was closed after a dam collapsed.
Operations also in other federal states
As the situation in Bavaria continues to deteriorate, the first emergency services in Baden-Württemberg are taking a deep breath. For example, in Ochsenhausen, north of Lake Constance, mayor Christian Bürkle said things were slowly improving. The level of the Rottum River has fallen slightly again. In contrast, parts of the community of Meckenbeuren on Lake Constance are still underwater. Baden-Württemberg Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann warned: “Heavy local rainfall is also forecast for the next few hours in many affected regions.”
In Thuringia, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt, firefighters had to be called after individual heavy rains because cellars and streets were underwater. For example, a landslide occurred in the district of Schmalkalden-Meiningen in southern Thuringia. There were also operations in Switzerland due to heavy rain.
Weather outlook
DWD expects more rain and possible thunderstorms in the south and east for the rest of Sunday. The weather situation is only expected to improve in almost all regions from Tuesday onwards. Tomorrow there will initially be showers, thunderstorms and local storms due to heavy rain from Lake Constance to Lower Bavaria, the German Weather Service in Offenbach said. Clouds would gather in the north and northwest, but there would only be a slight tendency towards precipitation. Otherwise the weather will be clear, partly cloudy and dry with temperatures between 15 and 22 degrees.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:240602-99-243640/26 (dpa)