In Regensburg, 200 people had to be evacuated during the night. But in addition to the flooding, the city is now also battling a completely different problem: disaster tourists.
In Regensburg, Bavaria, the water level of the Danube at the Iron Bridge, not far from the Stone Bridge, is 6.15 meters (as of Tuesday, 9.15 a.m.). A disaster alert has been declared in the World Heritage city. Thousands of helpers are building flood protection walls and filling sandbags (here is the storm ticker).
The city in Upper Palatinate is booming. It is popular with students and tourists. According to “Regensburg Touristik GmbH”, around 1.23 million tourists came to the city on the Danube in 2019. In 2022, the number of inhabitants in Regensburg increased by around 3,901 (2.54 percent) compared to 2021, as reported by the Federal Statistical Office. In 2022, 175,371 people were registered as residing in Regensburg.
The extreme flooding seems to be washing a few thousand more people into Regensburg, which is becoming a problem for Gertrud Maltz-Schwarzfischer (SPD), who was elected mayor in 2020.
She told Bayern2 on Tuesday morning: “We have a lot of tourists anyway, but the locals are out and about too. Please don’t go and see how things are. Above all, don’t go onto the footbridges, just hold back, because those who really need to help and have something to do need to be there.” Onlookers could be seen everywhere in the city on Monday. The Stone Bridge is bursting at the seams. For helpers, the crowds are an obstacle to their work.
Disaster tourists are not only hindering rescuers and helpers in Regensburg. The town of Schorndorf, east of Stuttgart, has expressly asked the population to avoid the flooded areas and not to engage in flood tourism, as ksta.de reports.
The flood situation in Regensburg during the night was still tense, Maltz-Schwarzfischer continued. The high groundwater and the unstable subsoil put the evacuations at risk. The peak was reached at night, and it is hoped that the water levels will go down during the day today, the mayor continued. It is difficult to predict whether the dams and protective devices will hold.
Parts of Bavaria are still in a delicate flood situation. On Tuesday, June 4, 2024, at 3 p.m., Prime Minister Dr. Markus Söder, together with Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann and Environment Minister Thorsten Glauber, will be informed about the current flood situation on site in Regensburg, as bayern.de reports.
The current weather situation can be found here in the ticker: The weather service has declared a red alert in twelve districts.