The heavy rains that have fallen in recent days in southern Germany have caused serious flooding in large areas of the states of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, where thousands of people have had to abandon their homes. A firefighter who was participating in the rescue efforts of trapped people has become the first fatality, while another emergency worker and a woman remain missing. The meteorological service warns that rainfall will continue throughout Sunday and into the early hours of Monday.
The deceased firefighter, 42, was in an inflatable boat with three other emergency services workers in the Bavarian city of Pfaffenhofen on Saturday night when the boat capsized. Rescuers were heading to the home of a family that had been trapped in a flooded area. His body could not be found until Sunday morning. In the same town, about 200 people had to be evacuated during the night, including 140 from two nursing homes.
The floods that hit southern Germany keep the authorities in suspense in a country that is still very much aware of the tragic floods that, in July 2021, caused more than 200 fatalities in the center of the continent, 134 of them in the valley of the Ahr River, in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. The chancellor, Olaf Scholz, plans to travel to the affected area to check on site rescue efforts, according to several German media. Scholz has expressed his gratitude to the emergency services. “I am saddened by the death of a firefighter in Pfaffenhofen,” he said in his X account.
Wir sind den Rettungskräften and Helfern, die an vielen Orten gegen die Folgen des Hochwassers kämpfen, zu Dank und Respekt verpflichtet.
Der All eines Feuerwehrmanns in Pfaffenhofen macht mich betroffen. Meine Gedanken sind bei seinen Angehörigen und Kolleginnen und Kollegen of him.
— Bundeskanzler Olaf Scholz (@Bundeskanzler) June 2, 2024
Robert Habeck, Vice Chancellor and Minister of Economy and Climate, visited the disaster area this Sunday morning accompanied by the Bavarian President, Markus Söder. Habeck thanked the emergency services for their work and stressed that the loss of a life demonstrates “what professional firefighters and volunteers risk.” “The most important thing in the next few hours will be to organize the relays well,” said Söder. “The longer you are on duty, the more likely it is that you will make a mistake, that fatigue will appear. And then there is a greater risk to life and physical integrity,” he highlighted.
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The authorities are searching this Sunday for another firefighter missing in Offingen, in the Swabia region (Bavaria) who was traveling in a water rescue boat that capsized at dawn due to strong currents. Several boats and two helicopters are searching for the 22-year-old man, who could not reach dry land like the other four lifeguards who accompanied him on the boat and who were unharmed. The missing woman, 43, was in the basement of her home in Schrobenhausen when the flood hit, according to the newspaper. Bild.
Around 800 soldiers from the Bundeswehr, the German Army, have been deployed in Bavaria to help with rescue efforts. Heavy rain has caused the closure of several transport routes, such as the A9 motorway, with 50 kilometers closed after the failure of a dam in the district of Pfaffenhofen, in Upper Bavaria. In addition, a strong landslide caused two carriages of a long-distance train carrying 185 passengers to derail east of Stuttgart on Saturday night, causing no injuries. Many rail services remain interrupted and many connections between cities such as Munich, Karlsruhe and Stuttgart have been cancelled.
The strong storms of recent days have left more rainfall in 24 hours than occurs on average in an entire month. In the town of Kißlegg (Baden-Württemberg), 130 liters per square meter fell in a single day on Friday, according to the German Weather Service (DWD), when on average 118 are recorded per month. Authorities in many areas have asked residents to avoid staying in basements or move to other locations due to the danger of floods. Experts predict that in some rivers the water level will reach records that have not been seen for 50 years. The flow of the Neckar is expected to rise on Monday morning after the highest flood in five years.
Maritime traffic on the Upper Rhine has also been suspended in some sections. Near Karlsruhe the critical mark of 7.5 meters has been exceeded. And at least 18 schools will not open on Monday, as the authorities have announced, due to having been flooded.
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