The German army stepped in to help as heavy rains lashed large parts of the country’s south on Saturday, prompting many cities to declare a state of emergency as rivers swelled and flooding increased, forcing the evacuation of residents and prisoners.
As heavy rain continued late into the night, preparations were underway to evacuate 670 people in Upper Bavaria. Boats were deployed in the town of Schrobenhausen, local authorities said, after earlier declaring a state of emergency.
At least nine other municipalities also declared a state of emergency as water levels rose during the day.
German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said 520 volunteers working for the Federal Technical Assistance Agency (THW) are moving people to safety, securing dikes and pumping water.
The Bundeswehr, the German army, also supported the relief effort, distributing blankets and camp beds and bringing in further supplies. The Red Cross also stepped in, providing trained water rescuers and specialized diving teams.
Previously, train services between the Bavarian capital Munich, Austria’s Bregenz and Switzerland’s Zurich were canceled due to flooding. The route between Ulm and Augsburg was also affected, and long-distance trains between Stuttgart and Munich were diverted.
Authorities in the Bavarian district of Augsburg said evacuations were necessary after a dike and dam collapsed under the deluge.
The Bavarian Red Cross says it used a helicopter to rescue two people from the roof of their home in Babenhausen. According to a spokesperson, the two were in a life-threatening situation.
Emergency services in the area reportedly brought more than a hundred people to safety on Saturday, including dozens of children.
In the Bavarian town of Fischach, west of Munich, a helicopter was deployed to rescue people from their homes after the Schmutter River burst its banks. The residents could not have left their home in any other way, says a spokeswoman for the district council.
According to police, boats and emergency services were also on their way to remove people from flooded homes. Several neighboring districts declared a state of emergency as rain continued and water levels continued to rise.
A prison in Memmingen was also evacuated as the water rose, with its 100 prisoners taken in by nearby institutions.
As several rivers rose to record levels, the Bavarian Ministry of the Environment set up a flood task force to coordinate measures across the state. Officials were preparing state reservoirs for the flooding, the department said.
‘The situation is very serious, especially in large parts of the country [the region of] Swabia. The warning services are permanently alert and monitor the situation,” said State Minister for the Environment Thorsten Glauber. “Everything possible is done to prevent or reduce damage by consistently taking action in advance.”
In the southern state of Baden-Württemberg, west of Bavaria, the situation rapidly deteriorated after the Rottum River began flooding several towns. In the town of Reinstetten, 150 emergency services worked for more than 22 hours to combat flooding caused by a breached dam, Mayor Philipp Bürkle told dpa.
Bürkle said area fire departments were pumping out basements and handing out sandbags. A residential care center in the area with 15 residents was evacuated.
Further north, authorities in the seaside town of Wiesensteig imposed a requirement on its 2,100 residents to boil water before consuming it after flooding the local water supply.
To the south, near Lake Constance, a school in the village of Meckenbeuren had to be evacuated when floodwaters from a local river overwhelmed the sandbag barriers.
The German weather service predicted more thunderstorms and as much as 80 liters of precipitation per square meter in the southern parts of Germany on Saturday. The storms were also likely to continue on Sunday.
Bad weather also caused problems in eastern Germany, with fire brigades repeatedly called out in eastern parts of Thuringia state on Saturday afternoon due to heavy rain and thunderstorms.
