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WEATHER

Raging storm wallops Germany, leaving one man dead

A Bavarian man was reported dead and a train conductor in Baden-Württemberg severely injured on Wednesday after severe storms swept through the country overnight.

Raging storm wallops Germany, leaving one man dead
Photo: DPA

A 26-year-old man was driving an all-terrain vehicle near Hauzenberg in Passau county when a tree fell on him and he later died of his injuries, police reported.

Several other people in the region were injured in weather-related accidents too. In Waldenreut a man fell from his roof after attempting to repair storm damage and suffered a shoulder injury.

Click here for a photo gallery of storm damage around Germany.

Meanwhile a woman near Waldkirchen was hospitalised after being struck by lightning in her car.

A family of four camping near Ottach in lower Bayern narrowly escaped with their lives when heavy gusts pushed their camper wagon 30 metres into the Danube river.

Police closed the A8 motorway between Adelzhausen and Odelzhausen due to heavy rainfall and gale force winds overnight.

Uprooted trees caused most of the 140 accidents police reported overnight. Many residents also reported flooded cellars.

The tempest also hit the world’s largest hops-growing area of Hallertau. Farmers feared more than 2,500 hectares of the total 15,000 hectares planted were damaged by heavy rain.

In the nearby state of Baden-Württemberg, a train derailed after hitting several uprooted trees on the tracks. The conductor was badly injured when a tree bored into the driving compartment, and 75 passengers were evacuated, police reported.

A farm near Amtzell caught fire due to lightning, burning 10 cows in a barn to death and causing some €200,000 in damages.

In Konstanz near the Bodensee police reported that the city was covered with at least 10 centimetres of hail for a time. Wind gusts as high as 113 kilometres per hour were also recorded. Train traffic to the city had to be blocked to clean up felled trees and damaged power lines. Authorities estimated several million euros in hail and wind damage to roofs, windows and vehicles.

“It looks like a bomb went off here,” a police spokesperson said.

Authorities also closed roads in Esslingen due to falling trees and the several flights from the Stuttgart airport were delayed after the runway closed due to lightning in the early evening.

In the north, on the Weser River near Bremerhaven, police reported that strong winds pushed a Norwegian freighter into three other boats while it was in the docks. In a separate incident a Lebanese ship sustained damage and lost a container overboard.

In Braunschweig, police received more than 100 calls for emergency assistance when trees were uprooted, blocking roads and doors to people’s homes. A spokesperson for the fire department said no one there was injured.

As the nasty weather moved south, parts of Austria were also walloped with thunder storms, heavy rain and strong winds throughout Tuesday night. More than 2,700 lightning strikes were recorded in the states of Salzburg and Upper Austria. In Switzerland, a tree landed on a 31-year-old man while he was driving.

Click here for The Local’s weather forecast.

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FLOODS

German communities brace for flooding as water levels continue to rise

Water levels on the Elbe and Oder rivers in Germany are rising, sparking preparations for floods as the clean-up across central Europe gets underway.

German communities brace for flooding as water levels continue to rise

As several countries in Europe face the devastating aftermath of severe flooding following torrential rain, communities in some regions of Germany are trying to manage rising water levels. 

According to a forecast by the state flood centre, the water on the Elbe river has not yet reached expected peaks. In the city of Dresden, the Elbe rose above the six-metre mark on Wednesday. There, as well as in Schöna on the border with the Czech Republic, the flood peak is expected on Thursday.

There is a cautious all-clear along other rivers in the east and south of Germany. Further north, however, Brandenburg is looking anxiously at the Oder river, which is expected to bring more water in the coming days.

READ ALSO: Parts of Germany hit by flooding as torrential rain wreaks havoc across central Europe

Flood crisis teams are due to meet in Frankfurt (Oder), located at the border with Poland, and other municipalities in Brandenburg on Thursday. A level 1 flood alert was issued for sections of the river on Wednesday.

According to the State Office for the Environment, floodplains and meadows close to the banks are expected to start flooding, with the areas of the Oder village of Ratzdorf to Eisenhüttenstadt particularly affected.

The state office believes the highest alert level – level 4 – with a water level of around six metres will be reached in the next few days near Ratzdorf, where the Oder reaches Brandenburg territory.

Clean-up work underway in central and eastern Europe

In the flood-hit areas from Poland to the Czech Republic and Austria, the clean-up work has now begun, but the situation is only slowly easing.

In many places, the emergency services are still struggling with masses of water. Soldiers are also providing support in Poland and the Czech Republic. However, the authorities are not yet giving the all-clear. So far, more than 20 people have tragically lost their lives in the region due to the extreme weather.

In the Polish city of Wroclaw in the west of the country, the flood wave was not expected until Thursday night. As several tributaries that also carry a lot of water flow into the Oder between Olawa and Wroclaw, the possibility of flooding in the Lower Silesian metropolis cannot be ruled out, said an expert.

Flooding in Bresgau Poland

A drone captures the high water levels in Bresgau, Poland, on September 19th. Photo: picture alliance/dpa/PAP | Maciej Kulczynski

Flood defences in Wroclaw have been reinforced as a precautionary measure. One third of the city of 630,000 inhabitants was flooded during the Oder flood in 1997.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is expected to visit Poland on Thursday afternoon. According to the EU Commission, the trip is being organised at the invitation of Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala, his Slovakian counterpart Robert Fico and Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer are also expected to attend the meeting.

The talks are likely to focus on the question of funds from Brussels for reconstruction although the extent of the damage is still unclear.

With reporting from DPA

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