Thousands of people were evacuated over the weekend and an emergency worker was killed during severe flooding in southern Germany, as heavy rains and flooding in two states caused further disruption on Sunday.
About 3,000 people in Bavaria were evacuated from flooded areas, an Interior Ministry spokeswoman said on Sunday.
About 20,000 emergency workers are currently being deployed to numerous rescue operations in Bavaria and neighboring Baden-Württemberg due to flooding after days of continuous rain.
In total, at least 40,000 rescue workers have taken part in rescue efforts since Friday, with the German military also stepping in to help as the region’s rivers continued to widen.
A firefighter died last night after his rubber boat capsized in the Bavarian town of Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm, about 40 kilometers north of Munich.
His three colleagues in the boat were able to get to safety, but the firefighter’s body was found early Sunday morning, local authorities said.
The emergency workers were on their way to rescue a family in the heavily flooded area. No details are known about what happened to the family.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed his condolences on the social media platform
Scholz will visit the region on Monday. He will visit Upper Bavaria tomorrow morning together with Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder and Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann.
Söder previously thanked the emergency workers deployed throughout the state, the largest in Germany by area.
“The most important thing is to arrange their help in the coming hours,” Söder told journalists in Reichertshofen in Upper Bavaria, just north of Pfaffenhofen. He expressed concern about the safety of rescuers who had worked for too long without a break.
A fire brigade spokesman said the flooding in the region was unpredictable and the most extreme yet.
Earlier, the German Meteorological Service (DWD) said some regions in southern Germany recorded more than a month’s worth of rain in 24 hours.
Kisslegg in the southwestern state of Baden-Württemberg recorded 130 millimeters of rain on Friday alone, the DWD reported. The region normally reports 118mm per month at this time of year.
In the Bavarian town of Bad Wörishofen, 129 mm fell within 24 hours, compared to a monthly average of 101 mm.
The Swabian Alps south of Stuttgart, as well as the regions around Augsburg, Nuremberg, Bamberg and Regensburg, are reportedly at particular risk from thunderstorms on Sunday.
More heavy rainfall is forecast. The DWD warned of extreme amounts of rain, especially in southern Germany.
As a result, at least 40 schools in eight administrative districts of Bavaria have canceled classes for part of the coming week due to the flooding, the state Ministry of Education said.
