Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

STORM

Roads, railways and homes flooded as heavy rain hits Germany

Torrential rain mixed with strong winds is causing major problems in southern and western Germany.

Published: 4 February 2020 08:54 CET
Updated: 4 February 2020 09:57 CET
Roads, railways and homes flooded as heavy rain hits Germany
Water floods the village of Aach in Rhineland-Palatinate on Tuesday. Photo: DPA

In Bavaria, hurricane-like gusts and heavy continuous rain are disrupting the public transport system.

Munich's S-Bahn services on lines S1 and S2 were partially closed on Tuesday morning due to trees falling onto the overhead lines, a spokesman for Deutsche Bahn said.

West of Augsburg, two rivers burst their banks and flooded streets. According to police, seven people have been injured in the stormy weather since Monday lunchtime.

The German Weather Service (DWD) had issued severe weather warnings for southern parts of Germany on Monday night.

Rescue operations

Heavy rain has also triggered numerous rescue operations in the south-west of the country.

The town centre of the community of Aach near Trier, Rhineland-Palatinate, was flooded during the night.

In the Oberemmel district of Konzer a river overflowed its banks, which resulted in people becoming trapped in their homes due to the build up of water. The fire and rescue service managed to free the affected residents in the middle of the night.

In several places across the district, emergency services had to shut off flooded roads. A total of 440 forces were deployed. Meanwhile, the railway line between Perl and Trier was closed on Tuesday morning.

READ ALSO: Fact check – is winter actually coming to Germany this year?

Deutsche Bahn issued a tweet urging customers to check for delays and cancellations due to the stormy weather.


Heavy rain in Munich on Tuesday morning. Photo: DPA

After heavy rainfall, water levels along the Moselle river are rising sharply. Early on Tuesday morning, the water level in Trier was over 8.40 meters according to the Flood Reporting Centre, and it was still rising. The normal water level is about 3.25 meters.

It's due to heavy rainfall coming from the Vosges mountains in France, where the Moselle river begins. The Moselle flows into the Rhine near Koblenz.

In Saarbrücken, the capital of Saarland, police closed the city highway early this morning.

Fallen trees in Baden-Württemberg

Hurricane-like gusts and heavy continuous rain also led to numerous police and fire department operations in parts of Baden-Württemberg.

In Stetten am kalten Markt near Sigmaringen, a tree fell on an apartment building, punctured the roof and damaged three cars. According to police, the damage amounts to around €60,000. No injuries have been reported.

Fire and rescue services as well as police were called out to operations in Freiburg and the surrounding area dozens of times. 

On Tuesday police tweeted: “The storm is keeping emergency services on tenterhooks. Throughout the area, fallen trees are causing danger in road traffic – we ask for special caution and consideration. Please avoid the dams of major rivers in our area.”

READ ALSO: Nine ways to get through winter the German way

Rain to continue

In the Waldshut district in the south of the state, the emergency services were also busy. Strong winds damaged houses and toppled trees as well as fences. 

Police in Karlsruhe reported that trees had fallen, while smaller streets and cellars were flooded. In Stuttgart, a tree fell on a car. According to police, there have been no injuries.

Until at least Tuesday lunchtime, the DWD expected heavy continuous rain in the region. In the Black Forest, around 120 liters per square meter and 150 liters in congested areas is said to have fallen within 72 hours.

The DWD also warned against stormy gusts with speeds between 50 and 70 kilometres per hour.

There's also been some snow.


Snow in Thuringia on Tuesday. Photo: DPA

In the Ore Mountains and the Thuringian Forest area, snow fell during the night. In mountainous regions in Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia, the snow is also expected to stay on the ground, according to the DWD.

“Care is also required on the roads there,” said the DWD.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

CLIMATE CRISIS

Record heat deaths and floods: How Germany is being hit by climate change

Germany was further confronted with extreme weather conditions and their consequences last year. With this summer likely to break records again, a new report shows the impact climate change is having.

Published: 22 April 2024 11:28 CEST
Record heat deaths and floods: How Germany is being hit by climate change

In 2023, more days of extremely high temperatures were recorded than at any time since records began, the European climate change service Copernicus and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) wrote in a joint report published on Monday. 

The records go back to 1940 and sometimes even further.

“2023 has been a complex and multifaceted year in terms of climate hazards in Europe,” said Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) Director Carlo Buontempo. “We have witnessed widespread flooding, but also extreme forest fires with high temperatures and severe droughts.” 

These events have put a strain on natural ecosystems, and have also challenged agriculture, water management and public health.

According to the report, around 1.6 million people were affected by floods last year, and more than half a million people were affected by storms. The weather- and climate-related damage is estimated at well over 10 billion euros. “Unfortunately, these numbers are unlikely to decrease in the near future,” Buontempo said, referring to ongoing human-caused climate change.

Heat turns deadly, even in Germany

Averaged across Europe, 11 months of above-average warmth were recorded last year, with September being the warmest since records began in 1940. 

A record number of days with so-called extreme heat stress, i.e. perceived temperatures of over 46C, was also registered. 

As a result of higher temperatures, the number of heat-related deaths has risen by an average of 30 percent over the past 20 years.

According to the Robert Koch Institute, at least 3,100 deaths in Germany were linked to heat in the first nine months of 2023.

“In some cases, for example heat stroke, heat exposure leads directly to death, while in most cases it is the combination of heat exposure and pre-existing conditions that leads to death,” RKI explained in a statement, adding that women tend to be affected more than men due to higher proportion of women in older age groups.

In Germany temperatures above 30C are considered a heatwave. As weather patterns change due to human-caused climate change, heat waves have increased in number and length.

READ ALSO: How German cities are adapting to rising temperatures

Historically Germany hasn’t faced so many severe heatwaves each year, and central air conditioning is not commonly found in the country. In cities across the Bundesrepublik, heat plans are being drafted and refined to try and prepare for further extreme heat events in the near future.

Delivery van stuck in flood

A delivery van stranded in flood water during a storm surge near the fish market in Hamburg last winter. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Bodo Marks
 

Warming oceans and mountains and more rain

On average, the seas around Europe’s coasts were warmer than at any time since at least 1980. 

READ ALSO: Colder winters and refugees – How changing ocean currents could impact Germany

It was also much too warm on the glaciers in 2023. “After the record ice loss in 2022, it was another exceptional year of loss in the Alps,” Copernicus and WMO wrote. In these two years, the glaciers in the Alps lost around 10 percent of their volume.

Interestingly, the excess meltwater may be boosting hydroelectricity production in the short term. According to the report, conditions for the production of green electricity in 2023 were very favourable, with its share of the total electricity mix at 43 percent, the highest seen so far.

Overall, seven percent more rain fell last year than average. It was one of the wettest years on record, the report said. 

In one third of the river network in Europe, water volumes have been recorded that exceeded the flood threshold. There were severe floods in Italy and Greece, among other places, and parts of northern Germany were affected at the end of the year.

Hamburg and the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein were among regions hardest hit by floods in Germany last year. Northern sections of the Elbe river rose high enough to submerge Hamburg’s fish market several times among other places.

READ ALSO: Germany hit by floods as October heat turns into icy spell

2024 likely to continue breaking heat records

The recent report by Copernicus and the World Meteorological Organization is in agreement with a UN report published last month, which noted that last year came at the end of “the warmest 10-year period on record” according to the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO).

“There is a high probability that 2024 will again break the record of 2023”, WMO climate monitoring chief Omar Baddour said, according to Science Alert.

Another year of record breaking high temperatures means Germany can likely expect more and longer heatwaves in the late spring, summer and early autumn seasons. Higher average temperatures are also correlated with an increase in extreme weather events like extreme storms and floods in parts of the country.

In drier parts of Europe it means an increase in droughts and wildfires.

With reporting by DPA.

SHOW COMMENTS