Status: 07/20/2022 1:25 p.m
After the heat in western Germany, people in eastern Germany in particular are now sweating. According to the German Weather Service, cooling is gradually moving across the country from the west. Before that, however, temperature records could be set again.
After the hottest day of the year so far, with a focus on western and southern Germany, the heat is now slowly moving eastwards. According to the German Weather Service (DWD), the highest measured temperature of the year of 39.5 degrees Celsius could be exceeded today in the north-east, said a DWD meteorologist. Temperatures of 40 degrees Celsius are also possible. Then it will also cool down to about 33 degrees in the east and north-east.
It will therefore be less hot in the west and southwest than on Tuesday. However, there will be thunderstorms there from the afternoon with “local severe weather potential”. The southern half of Baden-Württemberg is particularly affected. There could be heavy rain, heavy gusts of wind with up to 100 km/h and larger hail. The air is becoming increasingly muggy.
“We’re not really out of the heat”
Despite slightly lower temperatures in the west, overall heat stress remains strong. According to the DWD, the thunderstorms spread to the northeast. The focus then shifted to North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony and North Hesse. Heavy rain for several hours is possible there.
But even if it gets a little rainier and cooler in the coming days, “we’re not really out of the heat,” said the DWD expert. It could get hotter again at the weekend and at the beginning of the new week. Temperatures of 30 to 35 degrees Celsius are normal for this time – but 35 to 40 degrees are above average, as they were last measured.
Injured in forest and wildfires
Several people had been injured in forest and wildfires in the past few days. As reported by the police and fire brigade, some injured people had to be taken to hospitals during firefighting operations in Baden-Württemberg and North Rhine-Westphalia, but there was no danger to life. A field fire spread to a farm near Alsdorf near Aachen. Seven people were mostly slightly injured in this operation, and two firefighters had to go to the hospital.
According to the local fire brigade in Kronau, Baden-Württemberg, a firefighter suffered smoke poisoning in a field fire and had to be taken to a hospital. Other helpers were treated on site by the rescue service because of circulatory problems and minor injuries. According to this, around seven hectares of a harvested grain field and neighboring fallow land caught fire.
In Hennef, North Rhine-Westphalia, the fire brigade responded to a major forest fire near the Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences, the plume of which could be seen from miles away. There, too, a firefighter was taken to a hospital with circulatory problems as a result of the heat stress.
Power cords cannot withstand heat
The heat melted the sheathing of power cables in Baden-Baden, Baden-Württemberg, and led to a widespread power failure. This was announced by the municipal works. Previously he had SWR reported. Around 10,000 people are affected, and the emergency call and traffic lights also failed.
The Internet was also disrupted throughout the city, according to the Stadtwerke website. The Merkur mountain railway is also out of service until further notice. The spokeswoman for the public utility company said they were working flat out to completely eliminate the disruption.
Berlin supports the first heat aid emergency shelter
More drinks, more flexible shower options and relaxed closing times for the detention cells – this is how the prisons in Berlin are reacting to the current heat wave. As the Senate Department for Justice announced, additional powdered drinks and nutrient-rich drinks are available for the prisoners during the warm period.
Berlin’s Senator for Social Affairs, Katja Kipping, opened the city’s first heat-aid emergency shelter. The Senate social administration supports the facility with 100,000 euros, said Kipping in the contact point for homeless people on hot days. The responsible body of the model project is the Internationale Bund (IB). According to the social administration, up to 30 homeless people can stay, shower and rest every day from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. in the emergency shelter in the Schöneberg district. They received food and drink there, as well as clothing and sun protection products.
SPD faction vice proposes heat free
In view of the high temperatures, the SPD appealed to employers to give employees more rest and to strictly comply with occupational safety rules. “If employers want to set a good example and give their particularly stressed employees an extra day off from the heat, we expressly welcome that,” said the deputy parliamentary group leader in the Bundestag, Dagmar Schmidt, the “Rheinische Post”.
At the same time, Schmidt called for a consistent implementation of the legally guaranteed occupational safety: “This includes, on the one hand, adapting the working hours and place of work flexibly to the weather and allowing sufficient breaks – but on the other hand also checking whether one or the other work can be postponed. ”
DGB: Better protect employees from heat
The German Trade Union Confederation (DGB) also called for better protection for employees. DGB board member Anja Piel told the “Rheinische Post” that too many employers would refrain from the prescribed risk assessment and tailor-made protective measures. “In hot summers, that is exactly what becomes a risk for many employees.” Working in the heat is a serious health risk, especially outdoors in the sun, but also in offices that are too warm. Since periods of heat will no longer be uncommon in the future, employers must now make effective agreements with the works councils.
The Left Co-Chairman Janine Wissler also called for new regulations. It is high time that occupational safety was adapted to the requirements of climate change. Wissler spoke out in favor of revising the workplace ordinance. “We need a heat-free regulation in working life,” she told the newspapers “Rheinische Post” and “Bonner General-Anzeiger”.