Flood alarm in the south: firefighter dies, ICE derails
Published: Sunday, Jun 2nd 2024, 16:00
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Broken dams, a dead firefighter and people being rescued from flooded homes: Heavy continuous rain caused flooding in parts of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg at the weekend. Tens of thousands of emergency services pumped out cellars and secured roads and dykes with sandbags. Several districts declared a disaster alert. In Schwäbisch Gmünd in Baden-Württemberg, an ICE train derailed after a landslide. There were accidents on the roads with injuries due to aquaplaning. The German Weather Service (DWD) did not yet give the all-clear and predicted further rain.
Extreme amounts of rain have been falling since Friday evening and the ground simply cannot absorb them. Several streams and rivers in southern Germany burst their banks, with Bavaria being particularly affected. In Bad Wörishofen west of Munich, for example, 129 liters fell within 24 hours during the heavy rainfall, according to the DWD. The average is 101 liters per month. Fire departments and other emergency services are in constant action - pumping out water, blocking off areas, but also saving lives.
Two people are still missing
A 42-year-old firefighter died during one such rescue operation in Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm in Upper Bavaria. According to the responsible district office, he capsized in a rubber dinghy during an operation with three colleagues and was rescued dead early on Sunday morning. His death caused consternation. Another firefighter went missing in Offingen in Swabia. The 22-year-old was also traveling in a boat. In Schrobenhausen, a woman was thought to be missing in a flooded cellar.
A disaster alert was issued in more than ten districts. In the district of Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm, the situation came to a head on Sunday afternoon. A fire department spokesperson spoke of an unpredictable flood, "which we have never had to record like this before". Bavaria's Minister President Markus Söder (CSU) and Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) visited affected areas. On Monday, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) wants to see the situation for himself. The 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 warned of the dangers early on. Accidents mostly occurred on roads, presumably because there was too much water on the roads. At the town hall in Allershausen in the Upper Bavarian district of Freising, a man was critically injured during electricity work. The 27-year-old employee of an energy company suffered an electric shock, said a spokesman for the Upper Bavaria North Police Headquarters.
Hundreds of people were brought to safety as a precaution. An exact number was not yet available. People were also taken out of their homes by boat and helicopter. Many do not know whether they will be able to move back in at all. In many places, the electricity was switched off as a precautionary measure. Quite a few people were unable to communicate because their cell phone batteries were empty - which is very dangerous in an emergency.
No injuries in ICE accident
Passengers on the ICE train that derailed near Schwäbisch Gmünd were lucky. According to Deutsche Bahn, nobody was injured in the accident on Saturday evening. The route between Stuttgart and Munich, which is important for long-distance traffic, was temporarily closed. The train was recovered on Sunday. According to the railroad spokesman, the first two carriages on the journey from Munich to Cologne jumped off the tracks but did not overturn. Railroad lines were also closed elsewhere in the south.
But patience was also required on the roads: on Sunday, for example, the A9 near Ingolstadt in Upper Bavaria was closed after a dam burst.
Operations in other federal states too
While the situation in Bavaria continued to worsen in some places on Sunday, the first emergency services in Baden-Württemberg breathed a sigh of relief. In Ochsenhausen, for example, north of Lake Constance, the local mayor Christian Bürkle said that the situation was slowly improving. The level of the River Rottum had dropped again somewhat. In contrast, parts of the municipality of Meckenbeuren on Lake Constance were still under water. Baden-Württemberg's Minister President Winfried Kretschmann (Greens) warned: "Local heavy rain is also forecast for the coming hours in many affected regions."
In Thuringia, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt, fire departments had to be called out after individual heavy downpours because cellars and streets were under water. In the district of Schmalkalden-Meiningen in southern Thuringia, for example, a mudslide occurred. There were also interventions in Switzerland due to heavy rain.
Weather outlook
The DWD predicted further rainfall and possible thunderstorms in the south and east on Sunday. The weather situation is not expected to ease in almost all regions until Tuesday. On Monday, there will initially be showers, thunderstorms and locally also thunderstorms caused by heavy rain from Lake Constance to Lower Bavaria, the German Weather Service said in Offenbach. Clouds would gather in the north and northwest, but there would only be a slight tendency towards precipitation. Otherwise it would be clear, partly cloudy and dry with temperatures between 15 and 22 degrees.
©Keystone/SDA
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