Floods – Floods in Germany: Many rescue and evacuation operations – News

  • After continuous rain and flooding, the rescue and evacuation forces in western Germany are under great strain.
  • After numerous houses were initially evacuated in the state of Saarland, the authorities lifted the major damage situation on Saturday evening.
  • The northeast of France and the north of Italy are also affected by the constant rain.

Enormous amounts of rain have caused floods and landslides in Saarland, Germany. However, the water levels have not risen since 1 a.m., said a spokesman for the situation center in Saarbrücken. The rescue workers are still in large-scale operations. The German Weather Service (DWD) canceled all severe weather warnings early on Saturday morning.

The media office of the state capital Saarbrücken announced on Saturday evening that the acute rescue and safety measures had been completed and the water levels were continuing to decline. The focus is now on clean-up work. The emergency services and authorities would continue their work in the next few days.

According to current knowledge, no people were killed in Friday’s severe storm with hours of rainfall and widespread flooding. One person was injured during an evacuation operation, said the spokesman for the situation center. A person fell into the water and was taken to the hospital.

Over 3,000 rescue missions in Saarland

Videos showed cars standing in the water, caravans stuck in the floodwaters and numerous flooded streets. Buildings were poorly protected with sandbags, and in some cases entire streets were under water.

Scholz travels to the flood area


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German Chancellor Olaf Scholz assured the affected people of support during a visit to the Saarland flood area. “Now the focus is on acute help,” he said in the community of Kleinblittersdorf an der Saar, where he got an idea of ​​the situation together with German Prime Minister Anke Rehlinger.

It is also about the support that German federal institutions can provide. When the damage can be better assessed, we will agree on what should be done to help those in need.

But it was also good to see that the cooperation between the state institutions, the volunteers and the citizens on the civilian side worked well and that one could rely on it, said Scholz.

The situation center in Saarbrücken registered more than 3,000 police and rescue missions in the state. The police in Saarland alone recorded around 1,000 operations by early Saturday morning. In addition, according to the Saarland Ministry of the Interior, there were more than 2,400 deployments by fire departments and other aid organizations.

Flood sign on flooded river.

Legend:

In Rhineland-Palatinate, too, streets and cellars are flooded due to the persistent rain.

KEYSTONE/DPA/Andreas Arnold

The state capital Saarbrücken set up alternative accommodation in schools and a citizens’ telephone. In Völklingen, Saarland, streets were taken off the power grid because of the rain. Cities in neighboring Rhineland-Palatinate were also affected by continuous rain.

Storms in France too

Storms with heavy rain also caused traffic disruptions, full basements and flooded town centers in the French border region with Germany. So far, no people have been harmed by the floodwaters in Lorraine and Alsace.

Red and orange alert levels for floods


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Due to heavy rain, the French region of Moselle in Lorraine remains on red alert. The weather service Metéo France reported on Saturday of “extraordinary flooding” in the Saar tributary Nied and of “severe flooding” on several rivers in the northeast of the region on the border with Germany . In the Bas-Rhin department around Strasbourg, there is a warning level of orange, i.e. the second highest level.

“The equivalent of more than a month’s worth of rain fell in less than 24 hours,” the prefecture said on Friday evening, speaking of an “impressive but not dramatic” situation in which “no deaths or injuries” were reported.

The region around Saint-Avold and Sarreguemines, which borders Saarland, was particularly affected. Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin called on residents to be careful; the red warning level had been imposed for the region. In Alsace, too, a number of county roads had to be closed due to flooding.

Heavy rains in northern Italy

Northern Italy was also hit by storms. A 66-year-old man fell into a river in the town of Cantù, south of Como in Lombardy – his body was recovered on Friday, the fire department announced.

The fire brigade had to respond to around 1,000 missions in Lombardy in 48 hours. While the situation in Milan has improved, heavy rain caused flooding in Veneto. In the province of Padua, a stream overflowed its banks after a dam burst. In Veneto, the emergency services counted around 1,800 missions in two days. There was also heavy rainfall in Venice.

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