People in Upper Palatinate freed from houses
In the Upper Palatinate, the rain caused severe flooding in some areas. In the Amberg-Sulzbach district – in the municipality of Kastl – the flood waters caused cars to drift across the streets. Several people were trapped in their homes. No one was injured, said a spokesman for the Amberg Integrated Control Center. Those stuck have been freed. In the center of the town, the Lauterach river had overflowed its banks.
The cars that were swept away by the floods were washed up on a bridge, the spokesman said. There they ensured that the water accumulated additionally. The vehicles would now be recovered using heavy equipment – such as excavators and wheel loaders. More than 220 rescue workers from the fire department, police, BRK, THW, water rescue service and DLRG are on duty.
“Minor disaster” declared
Late on Tuesday evening (as of 11:30 p.m.) water was still gushing from the sewage system in Kastl. Three cars and a small van were simply washed away: a van got stuck under a bridge in the Lauterach overnight. The vehicle was secured with ropes and, according to a police spokesman, should only be recovered when the situation is no longer so dangerous.
There were no injuries, said Dominik Lehmeier, press spokesman for the Amberg police to BR. He was not yet able to provide any information about damage to buildings. The so-called minor disaster according to Article 15 of the Bavarian Disaster Protection Act was declared in order to facilitate the organization of the rescue workers on site under a joint operational management.
Amberg district administrator shaken by the force of the flood
The emergency services are pumping out houses and carrying out exploratory trips along the Lauterach to determine possible damage. A drone is also used to obtain a picture of the situation. The disaster control management group in the Amberg-Sulzbach district office took over management of the operation.
District Administrator Richard Reisinger (CSU) told the BR that he had never experienced such a flood in the Amberg-Sulzbach district “in terms of its rapid force.” One hopes to get away with a “black eye”. We will have to learn lessons from this and ensure that rivers “have space and can flow away quickly and unhindered”.
Floods and aquaplaning accidents in Upper Franconia
In Upper Franconia, Bamberg and the surrounding area were particularly affected by storms on Tuesday, as a police spokesman said on Wednesday morning. The result was flooded streets and full basements. In Bamberg and Forchheim, almost all underpasses in the region were under water, according to a spokesman for the Integrated Control Center (ILS). For example, on Geisfelder Straße near Bamberg, cars had to be recovered and passengers rescued. More than 60 weather-related operations were reported from the region. According to a police spokesman, there were also around ten weather-related accidents. Nobody was seriously injured.
In Strullendorf (Bamberg district), an oil tank was also found floating in a basement. Around 2,500 liters of heating oil escaped. According to the spokesman, from around 10:30 p.m. there were almost no more emergency calls, but it continued to rain heavily.
Dozens of storm operations in Lower Franconia
The storm also kept the rescue workers in the Schweinfurt area very busy. In the area of the integrated control center in Schweinfurt, the fire brigades had to respond to numerous flooded cellars, streets under water and fallen trees. A particularly large number of emergency calls were received between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. In total, the rescue workers went on at least 46 missions. According to the ILS Schweinfurt, there were very high amounts of precipitation at certain points.
The Haßberge district was particularly affected: well over 100 rescue workers from fire departments and the Technical Relief Agency (THW) were deployed here. They installed more than 4,100 sandbags and refilled 3,600 using the Haßberge district’s sandbag filling machine. No people were injured.