Thousands of people were evacuated over the weekend and an emergency rescue team died amid severe flooding in southern Germany, while heavy rain and flooding in two states caused further disruption on Sunday.
Around 3,000 people in Bavaria have been evacuated from flooded areas, a spokeswoman for the state Interior Ministry said on Sunday.
Around 20,000 rescuers are currently being deployed to the numerous rescue operations in Bavaria and neighboring Baden-Württemberg due to flooding following days of continuous rain.
In total, at least 40,000 rescuers have taken part in rescue efforts since Friday, while the German army also stepped in to help as rivers in the region burst their banks.
A firefighter died overnight after his rubber dinghy capsized in the Bavarian town of Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm, which is about 40 kilometers north of Munich.
His three colleagues on the boat managed to save themselves, but the firefighter’s body was found on Sunday morning, local authorities said.
Rescuers were on their way to rescue a family in the severely flooded area. There are no details about what happened to the family.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Sunday expressed his condolences on social media platform X. “The death of a firefighter in Pfaffenhofen shocked me,” he said, adding that his thoughts were with the firefighter’s relatives and colleagues.
Scholz is expected to visit the region on Monday. He is due to visit Upper Bavaria in the morning together with Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder and the state’s Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann.
Söder previously thanked the emergency teams distributed across the state, Germany’s largest by area.
“The most important thing is to provide your help in the next few hours,” Söder told journalists in Reichertshofen, Upper Bavaria, which is north of Pfaffenhofen. He expressed concern about the safety of rescuers who had worked for a long time without interruption.
A fire service spokesman said the flooding in the region was unpredictable and the most extreme seen to date.
Earlier, the German Meteorological Service (DWD) said that some regions in southern Germany recorded more than a month’s worth of rain in 24 hours.
Kisslegg, in the southwestern state of Baden-Württemberg, recorded 130 millimeters of rain on Friday alone, the DWD said. The region typically records 118mm per month at this time of year.
In Bad Wörishofen, Bavaria, 129 mm fell in 24 hours, compared to a monthly average of 101 mm.
The Swabian Alps south of Stuttgart as well as the regions around Augsburg, Nuremberg, Bamberg and Regensburg were reported to be particularly at risk from storms on Sunday.
More heavy rain is forecast. The DWD warned of extreme amounts of rain, especially in southern Germany.
As a result, at least 40 schools in Bavaria’s eight administrative districts have canceled classes for part of next week due to flooding, the State Education Ministry said.
