Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

WEATHER

Clean-up underway in Bavaria after heavy floods wreak havoc

Storms and floods left the world-famous Königsee bobsleigh and toboggan track in ruins. Now, as the heavy rain subsides, the clean-up operation in southern and eastern Bavaria has begun.

Published: 19 July 2021 18:41 CEST
Clean-up underway in Bavaria after heavy floods wreak havoc
Markus Söder, Bavaria's state premier, stands in front of the remains of the toboggan and bobsleigh track in Königsee on Monday July 19th. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Felix Hörhager

The situation has stabilised in the state somewhat as experts forecast sunny weather, but the district of Berchtesgaden near the Austrian border is still dealing with the devastating consequences of the rainstorms.

The small town of Schönau am Königssee was especially badly hit by floods overnight on Sunday. Its beloved toboggan and bobsleigh track was ripped from its foundations by gushing ravines up in the mountains.

“We could never have anticipated this,” Thomas Schwab, General Director of the German Bobsleigh and Toboggan Association told regional radio station BR24. 

The iconic track, which has been around for five decades, was known worldwide as a training ground for winter-sport world champions and Olympic athletes. 

READ ALSO: Two dead as flooding hits German states of Saxony and Bavaria

Writing on Twitter, winter sports journalist Ken Childs said the track had hosted “some of the best racing the world has seen”. 

Olympic toboggan champion Felix Loch told BR24 that he feared the track could not be rebuilt – or that it would take years to do so.

“The track has been there for a long time and there were always conflicts around it,” he said. “It costs a lot of money and it was always facing headwinds and opposition from various interests.” 

READ ALSO: IN PICTURES: The aftermath of Germany’s catastrophic floods

On Monday, the Technical Relief Organisation (THW) and the army were brought on site with heavy equipment to clear rubble and debris from kilometre-long road that led to the buried start house.

Markus Aschauer, operations manager of the Königssee Ice Arena, was pictured talking to soldiers next to the wreckage, while Bavarian state premier Markus Söder (CDU) and Finance Minister Olaf Scholz (SPD) also visited the site to assess the damage.


Markus Aschauer, operations manager at the Ice Area in Königsee, speaks to soldiers in front of the ruined remains of the toboggan run. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Peter Kneffel

Söder meets traumatised flood victim

On his visit to Schönau am Königssee, Söder and Scholz were approached by a distraught resident who had lost everything in the floods. 

Visibly in shock, the woman had to be supported by two other people as she wept and asked the two politicians for help.  

“We can help with that, we really can help,” Söder told her. “Nobody will be left on their own.” 

As the rain fell over the weekend, residents of the small Bavarian town were forced to leave their homes overnight as an emergency measure.

Most have now been able to return, though three properties are now uninhabitable due to the scale of the damage. 

Since catastrophic floods first struck western Germany on Wednesday, several funds have been set up to support those affected. Politicians are also said to be considering a €400 million emergency aid packet to assist those who have lost their homes and belongings nationwide. 

READ ALSO:

Brighter weather forecast eases floods fears 

After the horror of the weekend, weather experts have forecast dry, sunny weather over the coming days – meaning many residents of Bavaria can breathe a sigh of relief. 

In the city of Passau, the water levels along the Danube rose to 8.18 metres on Monday, just 32cm short of breaching the highest water level (‘Stage 4’) of over 8.5 metres. 

But with the sun breaking through the rainclouds, experts and residents are now hopeful that it won’t reach that critical mark.

However, the parts of Bavaria worst-hit by the floods – Berchtesgaden, Schönau am Königssee, Ramsau, Bischofswiesen und Markt Schellenberg – are still attempting to repair the terrifying destruction to homes and businesses, and mourning the loss of two lives. 

Environmental experts are also surveying the landscape around Schönau to assess the risk of landslides. 

Meanwhile, the authorities in Munich have banned residents from swimming or boating in the Isar river until the high water levels subside. Taking to the water would mean risking “life and limb”, they said in a statement.

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