Heavy rain, high water, flooding – the storm had southern Germany in its grip for days. The all-clear has now been given in many places. In Regensburg, the groundwater is a cause for concern – is the flood protection holding up? Read everything you need to know in the weather ticker.
Thursday, June 6th, 4:24 a.m.: The massive floodwaters on the lower Danube are only slowly draining away. The situation in Bavaria between Kelheim and Passau remains tense – especially in Regensburg. The authorities and emergency services there are concerned about the soggy ground along a street in the old town. In Passau, meanwhile, the water levels are falling, albeit at an increasingly slower rate. The Swabian and Upper Bavarian flood-affected districts are also still far from returning to normal. There was no news on the search for missing people as of Thursday morning.
The German Weather Service (DWD) predicted that, in addition to sunshine, there would also be showers and isolated thunderstorms with heavy rain of 25 litres per square metre per hour in Bavaria during the day. From late afternoon onwards, “severe weather conditions” including heavy rain and hail are to be expected in some parts of the south of the Free State.
In Regensburg, attention was mainly focused on Werftstrasse. In order to relieve the pressure on the protective walls there, the city temporarily refrained from pumping the water flowing through the protective walls back into the Danube on Wednesday. Out of concern that the soft ground could fail and the protective elements could slide away, a certain inflow was permitted.
Appeal to the common sense of citizens: Dikes are not a party zone
The protective measures are also still ongoing around 45 kilometers downstream in Straubing. The city administration pointed out that the groundwater level there is also high and asked citizens to be cautious and patient. “A high groundwater level can lead to water penetrating basements,” it said in a statement. On Wednesday, District Administrator Bernd Sibler (CSU) reported stable dikes in the Deggendorf district despite a flood wave that was only slowly receding. The local politician appealed to citizens’ common sense: dikes are “not a party zone.”
Further downstream in Passau, the water levels on the Danube and Inn slowly fell – but still at a high level. On Wednesday, Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) paid a visit to the old town there. Mayor Jürgen Dupper (SPD) looked ahead: “The next few days will be all about clean-up work.” But because of the slow flow of water, he also asked for patience. Schools and kindergartens in the old town are due to reopen on Thursday.
Search for missing firefighter
In Swabia, the search continues for the firefighter who capsized with his boat during a flood operation in Offingen on Sunday and was reported missing. According to the Interior Ministry, other people were reported missing. In total, at least six people died in the floods in southern Germany – four of them in Bavaria alone.
9:01 p.m.: The flood situation on the lower Danube remains tense. The water levels at the Danube gauges between Donauwörth and Passau were also at warning level 4 on Wednesday, according to the Flood Intelligence Service (HND). The flood peaks were mostly long and the water was only flowing away slowly. The flood situation must be monitored further, particularly because of the possible waterlogging of dams. On the upper Danube from Neu-Ulm via Ingolstadt to Kelheim, the water levels fell.
6.17 p.m.: The interim storage facilities for nuclear waste in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg have so far been spared from flood damage. The interim storage facility in Gundremmingen in Swabia, which is only a few hundred meters from the Danube, has also not been penetrated by water, the BGZ interim storage company announced on Wednesday. Adjacent areas in Gundremmingen and Biblis in the north of Baden-Württemberg were flooded. However, the safety of the interim storage facilities is guaranteed.
This also applies to the five other interim nuclear waste storage facilities in southern Germany, the BGZ said. However, the flood situation there has so far been less dramatic. Flood protection was also taken into account when choosing the locations.
6.14 p.m.: The flooding has also had a severe impact on some farmers in Baden-Württemberg. Agricultural businesses in the districts of Bodenseekreis, Ravensburg, Sigmaringen, Biberach, Alb-Donaukreis, Reutlingen, Tübingen, Göppingen, Ostalbkreis, Esslingen and Rems-Murr-Kreis were particularly affected, the Ministry of Agriculture announced in Stuttgart on Wednesday. Flooding of farms and stables only occurred in isolated cases. The stables were able to be evacuated in time.
A spokeswoman for the state farmers’ association said: “The damage varies considerably from place to place.” According to the ministry, there was only minor damage in the Baden part of the state and along the A81 towards Lake Constance.
An initial damage survey at district level revealed that over 95,000 hectares of arable land in Baden-Württemberg had been damaged by heavy rain and 26,000 hectares had been flooded, as well as over 85,000 hectares of grassland had been damaged by heavy rain and over 22,000 hectares had been flooded. “The high rainfall will not lead to total losses everywhere.” However, based on current knowledge, significant losses in yield and quality are to be expected, the Ministry of Agriculture further announced. The first green fodder harvest (silage/hay) has so far only been completed by 70 percent of farms.
5.02 p.m.: The number of fatalities as a result of the flooding in Bavaria has risen to four, according to police. A 79-year-old woman was discovered lifeless in the Mindel Canal in Swabia on Wednesday, officials said. She had been reported missing on Sunday in Jettingen-Scheppach near Augsburg.
4.05 p.m.: Isolated thunderstorms and localized heavy rain of up to 20 liters per square meter are possible again on Thursday, especially in the southern half of Baden-Württemberg. The Upper Rhine, Upper Swabia and Allgäu are particularly affected, a spokesman for the German Weather Service (DWD) said on Wednesday.
“The thunderstorms themselves are not a problem,” said the spokesman. However, the flooding in southern Germany in recent days has made the situation critical enough. Further flooding cannot be ruled out. However, the danger is relatively low despite the possible thunderstorms, it was said.
3:08 p.m.: Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder has arrived in Passau to get an idea of the situation on site. The water level of the Danube is currently still at the highest warning level. Jürgen Dupper, Mayor of Passau, is currently updating Söder.
11.58 a.m.: The weather service does not see a new storm front approaching Germany, but there is no real all-clear for flooding either. In the south there may be further heavy rain, as the German Weather Service (DWD) predicted in Offenbach on Wednesday. In the north it is uncomfortably cold. Those who live in the middle have drawn the best lot.
“The heavy rain is over,” said DWD meteorologist Adrian Leyser, summing up the weather situation, “but we will not have consistent sunny and warm summer weather for the time being.” In the next few days – up to and including the weekend – he sees the weather being divided into three parts.
In the north, the proximity of the low pressure areas over Northern Europe is noticeable. In the relatively cool sea air, the weather remains changeable with showers and gusty winds. At night, temperatures sometimes drop to low single figures, and even local frost near the ground cannot be ruled out.
In the south, it is significantly warmer at just under 25 degrees. However, the air is also humid and there could be showers and sometimes heavy thunderstorms. The risk of heavy rain is increasing again significantly. “Although there are no signs of a new, regional storm, the sometimes heavy rain is unlikely to help ease the flood situation any further,” said Leyser.
The broad middle lies like a sandwich in between. That’s where it’s most beautiful. A high pressure bridge stretching from the eastern Atlantic to Eastern Europe usually brings pleasant, dry and moderately warm weather.
In the north, the proximity of the low pressure areas over Northern Europe is noticeable. In the relatively cool sea air, the weather remains changeable with showers and gusty winds. At night, temperatures sometimes drop to low single figures, and even local frost near the ground cannot be ruled out.
In the south, it is significantly warmer at just under 25 degrees. However, the air is also humid and there could be showers and sometimes heavy thunderstorms. The risk of heavy rain is increasing again significantly. “Although there are no signs of a new, nationwide storm situation, the sometimes heavy rain is unlikely to help ease the flood situation any further,” said Leyser.
The broad middle lies like a sandwich in between. That’s where it’s most beautiful. A high pressure bridge stretching from the eastern Atlantic to Eastern Europe usually brings pleasant, dry and moderately warm weather.
08:57: Green Party leader Katharina Dröge has appealed to the traffic light coalition partners not to cut back on climate protection during the budget negotiations. The finance minister still wants savings contributions from all ministries. “But anyone who cuts back on climate protection or on so-called natural climate protection, which is also a relevant part of flood protection, is doing exactly the wrong thing, because they will contribute to such crises becoming worse in the future,” said Dröge on the “Frühstart” program on “RTL/ntv”.
The situation is serious. Dröge announced: “We Greens will make it very clear that the measures that go into climate protection and natural climate protection and flood protection will be protected in the budget.”
In principle, the need for action is even greater, and efforts in the areas of renaturation, dyke construction and climate-friendly infrastructure must actually be increased. Dröge stressed the need for even “significantly larger” investment sums. “We are then actually talking about modernizing the debt brake.”
07.41 a.m.: A 29-year-old man has died of his injuries after a lightning strike on the banks of the Elbe in Dresden. A total of ten people were injured, some seriously, in the lightning strike on Whit Monday – there was no information about their current state of health, as the Dresden police announced on Wednesday.
Four of the injured were in critical condition as a result of the accident. Two men were resuscitated after cardiac arrest, it was reported. The first lightning bolt struck during a thunderstorm on the Carusufer near the rose garden. While the fire brigade was still on the scene, another lightning bolt struck on the other side of the river.
You can read more about the current weather conditions on the next pages.