Status: 07/14/2021 8:42 p.m.
Deep “Bernd” has reached the west. The situation is particularly tense in North Rhine-Westphalia. A firefighter was killed in the Sauerland. NRW Interior Minister Reul spoke of an “extremely difficult situation”.
Heavy rain has led to states of emergency and numerous fire services in some regions of Germany. North Rhine-Westphalia in particular is currently badly affected by the storms. The situation is tense in the state capital Düsseldorf, in Hagen in the Ruhr area and in the Sauerland.
In Altena in the Sauerland, a firefighter was killed during rescue work. This was confirmed by a spokesman for the police in the Märkischer Kreis. He drowned in the tragic accident. In Altena, the heavy rains caused a lot of damage. The city was “almost inaccessible,” said the police.
North Rhine-Westphalia Interior Minister Herbert Reul spoke of an “extremely difficult situation” in some regions of the state. “The further development is currently not foreseeable with certainty,” said the CDU politician to the dpa news agency. According to the German Weather Service (DWD), the low “Bernd” will bring heavy rainfall in some regions of Germany in the coming days.
Evacuations due to floods
In the state capital Düsseldorf, the fire brigade deployed around 330 times. The city asked residents in the Grafenberg district to leave their homes because of the threat of flooding. A care center was set up for the residents. Around 100 residents of a dormitory had to leave their accommodation due to flooding in Erkrath near Düsseldorf. A spokeswoman for the city said the accommodation for refugees is in an old school building, where the basement and the sports hall were full of water. But there is no danger to the residents.
In the heavy rain, the flat roof of a retail store in a shopping center in Würselen near Aachen collapsed. An injured person was able to save himself, the city said. The area was searched with rescue dogs, but no other people were discovered in the building.
Heavy storms hit Germany
David Zajonz, WDR, daily topics 10:15 p.m., July 14, 2021
“The people are desperate”
A retirement home with 76 residents in Hagen was evacuated due to the inflow of water. The senior citizens’ home has become uninhabitable, said a city spokesman. Parents were asked not to send their children to daycare and not to use the holiday care at the primary schools. A buried person was rescued with minor injuries.
Several drivers were freed from their cars, which were trapped by water. There were at least 200 locations. Some parts of the town could no longer be reached. “The people are desperate,” said a spokesman for the Hagen police station.
In other parts of the state, too, brooks turned into torrential rivers. There were landslides, streets were flooded, cellars overflowed, rail and road traffic were disrupted. An employee of a retirement home in Mettmann near Düsseldorf was seriously injured by a falling tree and almost drowned. A helper was able to hold the woman’s head above water until firefighters had freed the trapped woman.
According to Reuls, around 3900 workers have managed almost 2100 missions across North Rhine-Westphalia. “Many of them are volunteers and are currently working tirelessly to cope with the masses of water.” Flood warning values have been exceeded on numerous rivers in North Rhine-Westphalia.
Rising water levels in Rhineland-Palatinate and Baden-Württemberg
In Rhineland-Palatinate, too, low “Bernd” led to rising water levels. Shipping on the Rhine is therefore partially restricted there. At the Maxau gauge, the shipping high water mark II was exceeded, as the flood reporting service in Mainz announced. In the area of the Speyer and Worms to Kaub gauges, the high water mark I is still exceeded. Inland vessels must therefore reduce their speed here and stay in the middle of the fairway.
Shipping near Karlsruhe in Baden-Württemberg was blocked after persistent rain led to floods on the Rhine and Lake Constance.
A jetty in St. Goar on the banks of the Rhine was washed around by the flood.
Image: dpa
Search for two men continues
The search for a 53-year-old in the Saxon Erzgebirgskreis continues. The man was swept away by a river Tuesday night as he tried to secure his property against the overflowing river. The fire brigade initially canceled the search during the night because of the high water level, the police said.
In Baden-Württemberg, an 81-year-old man is said to have fallen into the river Jagst on Monday night while working on his house, which leads to flooding after heavy rainfall. He, too, is still missing. “We do not expect that the person can still be saved alive,” it said. Nevertheless, the search continues there.
In Thuringia, too, there was continuous rain and prolonged heavy rain. Several streets in the country have been flooded and cellars have been flooded.
More rains are expected in the south and southwest
Meanwhile, the situation in Bavaria relaxed somewhat. In the district of Hof, the disaster announced on Tuesday evening was lifted again.
According to DWD forecasts, the rains on Thursday will decrease in the west and increasingly move to the southwest and south. However, the amount of water in the area is likely to be less pronounced. Thunderstorm heavy rainfalls could not be excluded locally, it said. On Thursday, on the other hand, it looks friendlier in the north and east, where, according to the DWD, the sun is more frequent.