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Persistent rain worries especially cities and communities around the Rhine and Moselle in Rhineland-Palatinate. The level of the Moselle near Trier was in the evening according to data from the weather service “Wetterkontor” already at 5.73 meters, two and a half meters above the mean. “The actual precipitation is yet to come,” said a spokeswoman for the German Weather Service (DWD).
On Thursday night, between 60 and 80 liters of rain can be added locally in Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland.
According to the transnational flood portal the water level will continue to rise sharply because of the precipitation. In the course of Thursday, a rise in the Moselle in Trier up to nine meters cannot be ruled out.
“It is not yet clear whether it will be enough for the absolute maximum, but you have to reckon with one of the most severe floods of all. The flood could be in the top ten of all time, “said meteorologist Jan Schenk from” The Weather Channel ” compared to “Focus Online”.
At the Eifel tributaries such as Prüm, Nims and Kyll there were also steep water level rises during the day due to the extreme amounts of precipitation.
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A fire engine drives through a flooded railway underpass in Düsseldorf. @ Quelle: David Young/dpa
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Vulkaneifel district declares a disaster
Meanwhile, the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate declared a disaster on Wednesday evening after heavy rainfall and flooding. “The situation is very serious, we have many flooded streets and towns that can no longer be reached,” said District Administrator Julia Gieseking (SPD). The schools in the district should remain closed on Thursday.
Authorities in other parts of Rhineland-Palatinate are also preparing for an emergency. In Koblenz, where the Rhine and Moselle converge, the fire brigade appealed to residents whose houses and properties had already been affected by past floods to take the necessary safety measures in advance. The technical relief organization provided sandbags.
State of emergency due to storms: the situation remains tense
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Heavy storms caused flooding, especially in the southwest of Germany. © dpa
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The emergency services also began to erect flood protection walls on Wednesday. In the Neuendorf district, the fire brigade erected the supports for a wall. Another protective wall in the same urban area is planned. In addition, according to the city, all four flood protection gates in Ehrenbreitstein were closed on Wednesday. In Neuwied, the fire brigade announced that it would close three dyke gates on Thursday.
The city of Ludwigshafen also expects floods and obstructions in the bank area along the Rhine.
“Situation as we otherwise only know from winter”
After the heavy rains of the past few hours, flood warning values have also been exceeded on numerous rivers in North Rhine-Westphalia. “This is a situation that we otherwise only know from winter. In summer, something like this is absolutely unusual in terms of surface area and intensity, ”said Bernd Mehlig, the head of the flood information service of the State Office for Nature, Environment and Consumer Protection (Lanuv).
In Stolberg near Aachen, the Vichtbach broke its banks due to the heavy rain and partially flooded the old town. “Several streets in the urban area are currently impassable,” reported the city in the evening. The municipality urged the residents of the stream to leave their homes in the floodplain. “Please go to friends and relatives or to the emergency accommodation.” In the meantime, external forces have also arrived to support the local emergency services.
The Lenne and Volme in the Sauerland are also currently flooding. In the region, it rained up to 100 liters per square meter in just a few hours. A measuring point on the Lanuv in Hagen registered 170 liters per square meter of precipitation within a day – 140 liters of which fell in just three hours.
In the Eifel, rising water levels in the Inde and Wurm after “prolonged string rain” are also causing concern. Both waters flow into the Rur and cause the water levels to rise there too. The Inde river threatened to flood the historic city center of Kornelimünster in Aachen on Wednesday, as the city announced.
Further rising water levels in the Sauerland and Eifel
The flood expert Mehlig spoke for the Sauerland and the Eifel of a situation to be taken seriously, in which the local fire brigades would have to adapt to floods in some places. “The soils are saturated and can no longer absorb water. The rain that is now added will be felt directly in the waters, ”said Mehlig.
Rising water levels in the larger rivers, such as the Ruhr, the Rur, as well as the Erft and Sieg, can be expected until Thursday. “Even when the rains die down at night, all of the water from the rivers’ catchment area still flows together,” Mehlig explained.
In Baden-Württemberg, persistent rain also led to flooding on the Rhine and Lake Constance. Shipping near Karlsruhe was blocked on Tuesday evening.
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