The current flood disaster has yet to be dealt with, and clean-up work is continuing at full speed in the affected regions. Tens of thousands of helpers will also be deployed in the coming days. It is therefore far too early to draw up an initial balance sheet or even a rough estimate of the damage. “The situation remains tense, the dimensions of the flood are enormous,” says Environment Minister Thorsten Glauber (Free Voters). “A final assessment is not yet possible.” The only thing that is certain is that the current flood disaster will be one of the worst of its kind in Bavaria. And not just because of the three fatalities that have been reported so far. But also because of the huge area that has been hit – large parts of Swabia south of the Danube and western Upper Bavaria, and further along the Danube region with the hotspots of Regensburg and Passau.
Some people are reminded these days of the Whitsun floods of 1999 almost exactly 25 years ago. After days of rain in Upper Bavaria and the Allgäu, first the Danube tributaries from the Alps and then the Danube itself flooded dams and dikes. Neustadt an der Donau was hit particularly hard. Neu-Ulm and parts of Augsburg were also flooded, as were small towns such as Sonthofen and Weilheim. Five people died in the floods across Bavaria, 100,000 were directly affected, the damage amounted to one billion euros, and a total of 40,000 hectares of land were under water. The Whitsun floods of 1999 marked a turning point in flood protection in Bavaria. Since then, the state government has invested billions of euros in modern flood protection along the major rivers. The program is being continued.
Since then, however, further disasters have followed that have made national headlines. The State Office for the Environment (LfU) documents them on its website. For example, the August 2005 floods. In the last third of August 2005, there was exceptionally heavy rainfall in the Bavarian mountains. At some measuring points, more than 200 litres of rain fell per square metre. This is why the August 2005 floods even exceeded the Whitsun 1999 floods in some sections of the Iller, Lech, Loisach and Isar rivers. One example of this was the small town of Eschenlohe in the Garmisch-Partenkirchen district. Overall, however, the damage was significantly lower than that of Whitsun 1999, with 28,000 hectares of flooded land and almost 200 million euros in damage.
There is a lot of talk these days about the calmness with which the firefighters and other emergency services in Passau are dealing with the current flooding in their city. A look at the June 2013 flood explains their attitude. On the evening of June 3, 2013, a water level of 12.89 meters was measured at the Passau gauge. The city, which is used to flooding, experienced the worst flooding in 500 years. This was preceded by days of heavy rainfall, particularly in southeastern Bavaria and the Danube foreland. In Deggendorf, the Fischerdorf district was submerged in the brown floodwaters after a dam burst. The LfU estimates the total damage from the June 2013 flood at 1.3 billion euros. A particular problem was the large amount of heating oil that leaked out of tanks in residential buildings due to the flooding and spread not only in the buildings but also in the environment as a whole.
:The flood and its consequences in Bavaria
While some, like in Passau, are still waiting for the rivers to reach their highest level, others are trying to save what can be saved after the flood. Impressions from the storm areas.
The flash floods that hit Bavaria in May and June 2016 were just as bad as the flood disasters that had occurred up to that point. But they were a little different. They were limited to a very small area. At the same time, the soil was so saturated with water due to the long period of bad weather that small streams in particular burst their banks suddenly and without warning when heavy rain returned, leading to extreme local flooding. An unforgettable example is the Simbach, which flooded the town of the same name on June 1, 2016 after torrential rain. Simbach am Inn was devastated. In the Lower Bavarian district of Rottal-Inn alone, where Simbach is located, the flash floods in 2016 caused damage amounting to 1.25 billion euros. In addition, seven people died in the floodwaters.