Water levels remained high on Wednesday, particularly in the east of the German state along the Danube, although there were initial slight declines. The neighboring state of Baden-Württemberg, on the other hand, is slowly returning to normal – clean-up work has been underway here since Tuesday. Meanwhile, the sixth person killed in the floods in southern Germany has been recovered.
- Read also: Floods: Falling water levels, clean-up work and closures in Upper Austria
At least six fatalities
A 79-year-old woman was discovered dead in the Mindel Canal in Bavaria on Wednesday. She was reported missing between Augsburg and Ulm on Sunday. In total, at least six people died in the floods in southern Germany, four of them in Bavaria. According to the Bavarian Interior Ministry, several people were also missing, including a 22-year-old firefighter.
In recent days, several places in southern Germany have experienced more rain than ever before, a figure that only occurs every 50 to 100 years. Meteorologists do not see a new storm front approaching Germany, but there is no real all-clear for flooding either: there may be further heavy rain in the south, as the German Weather Service (DWD) predicted. However, the heavy rain is over, said a meteorologist.
Criticism of politics
Climate change is making extreme weather events more likely. Climate activists say the federal government lacks ambition in the fight against global warming in light of the flood disaster in southern Germany. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) has now visited a flood area for the fourth time this year, said Luisa Neubauer from the climate protection movement Fridays for Future in Berlin. “These visits are nothing more than symbolic politics with a bitter aftertaste, as long as Olaf Scholz forgets his side comments on the climate crisis on the way home (…).” Scholz visited the region currently affected on Monday.
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Image: (APA/dpa/Peter Kneffel)
Source: Nachrichten
