Situation in the flood areas: It’s raining again

In some flood areas, rain has started again. According to the weather service, there may be heavy rain locally, but not as much as last week. The authorities offer emergency accommodation. A storm front is also pulling across Bavaria again.

A good week after the floods, rains started again in the disaster areas in western Germany. In Rhineland-Palatinate, the German Weather Service (DWD) warned of sometimes strong thunderstorms and heavy rain. According to the forecast, however, the amount of rain should not fall as much as a week ago.

As the head of the civil protection team, Begona Hermann, announced, the DWD expected local precipitation in the range of a maximum of 30 to 40 liters per square meter; in places only ten liters are expected. However, from Sunday morning around 6 a.m., the weather situation could worsen.

Fear of epidemics

An evacuation offer was made to the communities particularly affected. In the areas of Schuld, Insul, Dümpelfeld and Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, it should be possible to take people to an emergency shelter in Leimersdorf by shuttle bus. “That is what the people decide for themselves,” says Hermann. The situation is not comparable to last week – “but we have a sewage system that is no longer functioning”. Therefore, the rains would have a different effect than ten days ago.

Because of the weather, the helpers could not work as intensively as before. According to Hermann, this should be used for a concentrated waste removal campaign. The aim is to remove the piles of rubbish piled up on the side of the road as quickly as possible. Because on the one hand they are a source of epidemics, on the other hand they disrupt traffic. In addition, the space is needed to be able to flush the sewer system.

Violent thunderstorms in NRW predicted for the night

Problems could also arise in North Rhine-Westphalia if, for example, large amounts of rain flushed rubbish into the drains and thus clogged them. There are still mountains of bulky waste on many streets. The State Office for Nature, Environment and Consumer Protection warned the citizens: “Stop working on the waters when it rains.”

Local heavy rain could suddenly lead to local flooding in waters where the runoff was already impaired by sand or gravel banks, trees and other debris from past storms. A first rain front with moderate precipitation had already reached southern parts of North Rhine-Westphalia by noon. It also rained in the district of Euskirchen and in Eftstadt-Blessem, which was particularly badly damaged by the storm of the century.

The heavy rain last week had washed a deep gullet into the earth in Blessem. No one is allowed to approach the demolition edge within 100 meters. Road markings indicate this. The clean-up work on site continued with many helpers. On Saturday evening or in the first half of Sunday there could be heavy thunderstorms and heavy rain in some areas, said DWD meteorologist Jacqueline Kernn for North Rhine-Westphalia. Where exactly, however, cannot be predicted with great advance.

Precautions at the Steinbachtalsperre

According to the DWD warning card, it was primarily the Münsterland and northern parts of the Ruhr area that were initially affected. The amount of precipitation was given as 20 to 30 liters per square meter within six hours. For comparison: In the past week, extensive continuous rain with rain amounts of more than 150 liters per square meter caused the flood catastrophe in parts of North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate.

The DWD does not expect any extreme weather event of this dimension. Municipalities already damaged by floods, such as Leichlingen, are already preparing for new heavy rain and exposing runoffs. As a precautionary measure, pump capacities were made available at the Steinbachtalsperre in order to keep the water level below a critical level.

Warning of flash floods in Bavaria

The weather service again warned of severe weather for Bavaria. Especially in the foothills of the Alps, there is a risk of locally severe thunderstorms with hail and squalls. In the afternoon, thunderstorms had already discharged locally and rain showers had come down.

Due to heavy rainfall, there could be local flooding, it said. On some rivers, reaching the reporting levels cannot be ruled out, said the Bavarian flood intelligence service. Extreme flash floods are also possible there. The storms should subside in the night of Monday.

Police warn helpers in the disaster areas

For the crisis areas in Rhineland-Palatinate, the Koblenz police headquarters and the crisis team appealed to helpers not to make their way to the disaster area. “The willingness to help from the population is still overwhelming and unbroken. Due to the large number of helpers who have set out in the disaster area to help, there is currently a complete overload of all access roads to the Ahr valley as well as the roads in the disaster area itself “, it said in a press release.

So far, the flood disaster in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate has claimed 179 lives. Entire towns were destroyed. Some areas are still without electricity and drinking water.