The situation on Thursday morning in Germany, especially in the west of the country, looks in many places as if it came from a catastrophe film: Collapsed houses and dozens of missing people in the Eifel, the Wupper dam is meanwhile an actual danger to life, firefighters let their lives in dramatic rescue operations. An overview of where the storms have struck and what consequences.
In connection with the severe storms are in Rhineland-Palatinate Ahrweiler district at least four people died in the Eifel. In the particularly affected town of Schuld, where six houses collapsed and several others were in danger of collapsing, 50 to 60 people would also be missing, a police spokesman in Koblenz told the AFP news agency on Thursday morning. “A great many” people were on the roofs of the houses, and the rescue operations were in full swing.
In To blame for Adenau in the Eifel According to the “SWR”, six houses collapsed during the night due to flooding and continuous rain. According to the police, around 30 people are currently missing.
25 other houses are also unstable and threatened to collapse. The situation in guilt is confusing, according to a spokesman for the police in Koblenz. How many people would be missing exactly is still unclear.
In action against the effects of the latest storms, two firefighters in the Märkisches Kreis were killed. In Altena in the Sauerland a 46-year-old firefighter was killed while rescuing a man after the heavy rain. A spokesman for the police confirmed this Märkischen Kreis on Wednesday. After a successful rescue, the firefighter fell into the water while getting into the fire engine and drifted away. A short time later they could only rescue him dead. He drowned.
Just two hours later, a 52-year-old firefighter collapsed while working in the Area of the Werdohl-Elverlingsen power plant. The police said he died on Wednesday evening despite resuscitation and relief measures. It had previously collapsed in the course of a storm-related mission in the area of the power plant. The police assume a health emergency.
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After enormous rainfall, the authorities in the Bergisches Land have an uncontrolled overflow of the Wupper dam feared at Radevormwald. According to a spokesman for the Oberbergischer Kreis control center, fire brigade forces can now drain the water in a controlled manner.
The Oberbergische Kreis had warned in the evening under the heading “Evacuation” that the water level of the Wupper in the Urban area of Radevormwald will swell very quickly in a short period of time. “There is an acute risk of flooding,” the warning said. The residents along the Wupper in the urban area were asked to leave the danger area immediately. “There is an acute danger to life!”
Also in Wuppertal Heavy rains caused the Wupper to rise and so the streets were flooded. As a police spokesman announced early Thursday morning, some roads on the valley axis along the Wupper were closed. Residents were therefore asked not to stay in the basement, but to move to higher-lying apartments.
Despite the announced tidal wave, the storm situation in the city is still manageable, the spokesman said. The fire brigade warned ahead of time on Twitter that drinking water consumption should be restricted as a precaution. The water supply is also affected by a power failure.
In Altena As in many other places, cellars and streets were flooded. The Lenne River, which overflowed its banks, further exacerbated the situation there. The water ran into the city center. Altena was “practically unreachable,” said the police in the afternoon.
In Hückeswagen in the Oberbergischen Kreis ran due to the heavy rains Bevertalsperre above. The water was currently running uncontrolled over the edge of the dam, said a spokesman for the control center on Thursday morning. More than 1000 people had to leave their homes.
In Rhineland-Palatinate called the Vulkaneifel district after heavy rains and floods the disaster. “The situation is very serious, we have many flooded streets and towns that can no longer be reached,” said District Administrator Julia Gieseking in Daun on Wednesday evening. The schools in the district should remain closed on Thursday. “I appeal to the population that everyone stay at home and protect themselves from the masses of water,” said Gieseking.
The Deutsche Bahn advised all rail travelers to bypass North Rhine-Westphalia as far as possible. “Please postpone trips to and from NRW to the next few days if possible,” it said in a message. On Wednesday, numerous railway lines were shut down.
The railway reported, among other things, of delays and Cancellations of trains between Cologne and Düsseldorf and between Cologne and Wuppertal. The routes between Cologne and Koblenz were not passable on either side of the Rhine. ICE trains between Frankfurt and Brussels only ran between Frankfurt and Cologne. (Tsp/dpa)
