A firefighter died while trying to rescue trapped residents and several thousand people were forced to leave their homes as heavy rain caused flooding in southern Germany.
The 42-year-old man who died was in a rescue boat carrying four firefighters that capsized late on Saturday. His body was recovered early on Sunday, said a spokesperson for the Bavarian town of Pfaffenbach an der Ilm, around 50 km (30 miles) north of Munich.
Municipalities had days to prepare for the flooding but around 3,000 people had to be evacuated in southern Germany as the water cut off some areas, authorities said.
The German Weather Service (DWD) on Sunday forecast more heavy rain across southern Germany on Sunday and Monday after several municipalities in the region received more rainfall in 24 hours than they normally do in one month.
Especially heavy rain is expected in the Stuttgart region on Sunday, with thunderstorms and heavy rain forecast for an area stretching from the Alps as far north as Saxony, the south of Brandenburg and Berlin.
Overnight storms are expected to hit an area extending from the Black Forest in the southwest, across the entire south of Germany to the Bavarian Forest bordering Czechia to the east.
More of the same is on tap for Monday with the DWD warning that some areas could expect up to 40 millimeters (1.6 inches) of rain per square meter within an hour’s time.
The DWD said that on Friday, Kisslegg in Baden-Württemberg received 130 millimeters of rainfall per square meter within 24 hours, and Bad Wörishofen in Bavaria received 129 millimeters per square meter during that same time. Average monthly precipitation in each for May stands at 118 and 101 millimeters per square meter respectively.
“We owe our thanks and respect to the rescue workers and helpers who are battling the consequences of the floods in many places,” Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on X.
Scholz is scheduled to travel to the region on Monday, where he will meet with Interior Minister Nancy Faeser and Bavaria’s premier at around 1100 CET to get an overview, a government spokesperson said.
Economy Minister and Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck pledged support for the affected regions during a visit on Sunday and noted that climate change is causing more severe weather events.
“Natural disasters have always accompanied mankind. What we are seeing is that the frequency of these events is increasing significantly. Record floods occur every few years … record rainfall every few years,” Habeck, of the Greens Party, told broadcaster n-tv.
Parts of Europe were hit by major flooding in 2021 that killed nearly 200, with Germany bearing the brunt. The disaster was largely blamed on the consequences of climate change and prompted calls for stricter warning and safety measures.
Mass school closures across Bavaria
Bavaria’s Ministry for Education and Culture announced the cancellation of in-person classes at over 40 schools in eight districts across the state on Sunday evening.
The closures will be in effect for the coming week in the districts of Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm, Aichach-Friedberg, Neuburg-Schrobenhausen, Freising, Fürstenfeldbruck, Dachau, Dillingen und Augsburg, where elementary, middle, and high schools, as well as technical schools, nurseries and kindergartens will be closed due to flooding.
Search for 3rd victim of Friuli floods
Meanwhile, in Italy, rescuers on Monday continued searching for a third young person feared to been killed by flash floods in the north-eastern Friuli Venezia Giulia region last week after finding the bodies of two women aged 20 and 23 on Sunday.
The three, two women and a man, got trapped on a small island in the Natisone river when water levels suddenly rose up following torrential rain on Friday.
A harrowing video of the friends holding each other in attempt to resist as the flow of water got more violent has moved the nation.
The two bodies were found downstream at a distance of some 700m and one kilometre from where the group became stranded.
Read more via Deutsche Welle/Via ANSA
