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Floods and strong winds are keeping emergency services on their toes in several European countries. Those affected include Germany, France and Great Britain. An overview.
In Germany the risk of dike breaches increases. The continuous rain is expected to continue in parts of the country until Saturday. This means that the situation in the flood areas is likely to worsen further. Land under report in Lower Saxony, the south of Saxony-Anhalt and the north of Thuringia on large areas. The authorities in North Rhine-Westphalia spoke of sharply rising water levels.
Now other federal states are also looking with concern at their rivers, which had recently been spared from flooding. In Hesse, the authorities expect water levels to rise in Fulda, Lahn and their tributaries. The responsible state office also expects the water level on the larger rivers Rhine, Main and Neckar to rise.
Floods have occurred Northern France led to power outages, evacuations and the interruption of drinking water supplies. In the Pas-de-Calais department, where the highest severe weather warning level was declared, almost 600 firefighters were on duty on Wednesday, according to the responsible department.
The heavy rain caused several rivers to overflow and almost 200 people had to leave their homes. The drinking water supply was interrupted for 2,100 people and 1,450 residents had no electricity. A number of streets were closed due to the floods. After France asked for help with high-capacity pumps at the EU level, several countries offered support.
Legend:
A seven-year-old boy is evacuated from Severn Stoke, UK, after heavy rain cut the village off from the outside world.
REUTERS/Carl Recine
In Great Britain A driver died when a tree fell on his vehicle. The man was traveling in the English county of Gloucestershire on Tuesday – that day, storm “Henk” brought heavy wind and rain. Flood warnings were also issued in a number of places on Wednesday, as the PA news agency reported. Several streets were flooded.
Several people had to be brought to safety near Northampton. There were train cancellations and delays in rail traffic. According to the weather service, wind speeds of up to 150 kilometers per hour were measured on the Isle of Wight off the coast of southern England. A woman was injured by a fallen tree in south London.
Due to the strong flooding of the Meuse, a dike near the southern Dutch city of Maastricht has collapsed Netherlands Broken. The water had washed away part of the upper dike cover, the water authority said. The water then flowed into a natural area. The water level of the Meuse has risen sharply due to a lot of rain in France and the Belgian Ardennes. The peak is expected on Thursday. Flooding is also causing problems in the rest of the Netherlands due to heavy, continuous rain.
In Belgium A woman died after being hit by a blown-over fence. In the regions of Flanders and Wallonia, rivers overflowed their banks.
In Scandinavia The storms meant that around 900 passengers had to spend an unscheduled overnight stay at sea on the ferry between Oslo and Copenhagen on Wednesday. Heavy snowfall initially hit western parts on Wednesday Denmark while other parts of the country received heavy rain. The weather was accompanied by strong winds and gusts. The Oslo ferry wasn’t the only one affected.