The new week also begins with severe thunderstorms across a wide strip of Germany. In Dresden there are ten people injured, some seriously, after a lightning strike. Read everything important in the weather ticker.
2:41 p.m.: The German Weather Service (DWD) warns of a severe thunderstorm with heavy rain and hail in parts of North Rhine-Westphalia on Tuesday afternoon. These are possible until Wednesday night. There can be rainfall amounts of around 40 l/m², and heavy gusts of up to 90 km/h can also be expected. The DWD has therefore issued a red alert in nine districts.
The following districts are affected:
11.36 a.m.: After the heavy thunderstorms and rain over Pentecost, the affected regions can breathe a sigh of relief from Wednesday. But the danger has not been completely averted: the storm front is only shifting to the north, as the German Weather Service (DWD) announced on Tuesday.
The DWD had again announced severe weather with thunderstorms and heavy, sometimes long-lasting rain for Tuesday. The danger of floods, landslides and full basements had not yet been averted. The affected area stretched from Eastern Bavaria via Hesse to North Rhine-Westphalia. Another focus of precipitation was in Saarland as well as in Rhineland-Palatinate and Baden-Württemberg.
The north and northeast were still left out on Tuesday, as meteorologist Marco Manitta reported. “There is only a risk of severe weather here on Wednesday due to thunderstorms and heavy rain, while the rest of the country can breathe a sigh of relief.” What happens next? “Unfortunately, the potential for severe weather will remain elevated over the next few days. A longer period of dry weather is not in sight.”
According to the forecast, on Wednesday the focus of heavy rain and thunderstorms will be from Schleswig-Holstein to Western Pomerania and the Uckermark. Storms with 30 to 50 liters of rain per square meter are possible again in a short period of time.
On Thursday, the DWD expects local heavy or continuous rain in the Western Pomerania area with amounts of between 20 and 40 liters per square meter in several hours. On Friday the front will shift slightly to the south again. The focus will then probably be in North Rhine-Westphalia and the north of Rhineland-Palatinate. On Saturday, the DWD believes locally severe thunderstorms with heavy rain are likely, especially in the northern half.
8.14 a.m.: The next severe thunderstorms are coming – and they’ll go right across Germany. As the German Weather Service (DWD) reports, there is a “rapidly increasing thunderstorm activity in a strip from southeast and eastern Bavaria via Hesse to northern Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia” early on Tuesday afternoon (2 p.m.).
These are accompanied by heavy rain, small-grain hail and gusts of wind. Larger hail and squalls are also possible locally.
According to the DWD, what initially appears to be individual thunderstorms will “grow into a larger precipitation complex with integrated thunderstorms” that will be active until Wednesday night. Between 20 and 50 liters of rain will fall per square meter over a period of 6 to 12 hours. Up to 80 liters of rain are possible locally. The severe weather warning is valid until 2 a.m. Wednesday morning.
5.30 a.m.: After a lightning strike on the banks of the Elbe in Dresden, the fear for the four critically injured people continues. As of early Tuesday morning, no new information about the health status of the injured was available, as a spokesman for the police situation center in Dresden said.
Ten people were injured, some seriously, in the lightning strike on Monday evening. Four of them suffered injuries so severe that their lives were in danger. Two men, aged 27 and 30, were resuscitated after suffering a cardiac arrest, a fire department spokesman said on Monday evening.
4.40 a.m.: In many regions of Germany, Tuesday begins with an anxious look at the sky. Severe weather, thunderstorms and heavy rain are forecast for some areas in Bavaria, Rhineland-Palatinate, Hesse and Saarland. “On Tuesday, a low pressure zone will form again over Germany, in which the risk of severe weather will increase,” said the German Weather Service (DWD) in Offenbach.
“This time the focus is probably not in Saarland and southern Rhineland-Palatinate, but a little further north, in the area from the Eifel through central Hesse to southeast Bavaria,” said meteorologist Nico Bauer from the German Weather Service. There will be slightly lower amounts of precipitation in the previously flooded areas.
Rain with isolated thunderstorms will then occur from the Black Forest to Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland, the DWD said. In a strip from southern Bavaria through Franconia to northern Rhineland-Palatinate and the Eifel, some heavy thunderstorms could form. People should expect storms with heavy rain lasting one or more hours of 30 to 50 liters per square meter, in isolated cases up to 80 liters per square meter over several hours. Small hail and isolated gusts of wind will also occur. On Wednesday, heavy rain and thunderstorms are likely to move to northern Germany, according to the DWD.
Tuesday, May 21st, 2:30 a.m.: While the current crisis is not yet over, the process of coming to terms with it is already beginning, both among those affected and in politics. According to an initial assessment, the flood caused damage “well into the millions,” Rehlinger told the German Press Agency. The exact extent will only be fully understood once the water has completely receded.
“It is already clear today that we will be dealing with massive damage to private property, but also to infrastructure such as roads, bridges and even daycare centers,” she said. “We have been battling against masses of water for a few days, but we will certainly have to deal with the consequences for years to come.”
9:54 p.m.: Ten people were injured, some seriously, in a lightning strike on the banks of the Elbe in Dresden on Monday evening. Four of them suffered injuries so severe that their lives were in danger. Two men, aged 27 and 30, were resuscitated after cardiac arrest, a fire department spokesman said on Monday evening.
The lightning struck shortly after 5 p.m. during a thunderstorm on the Carusufer near the Rosengarten. A total of three women and seven men between the ages of 26 and 41 were injured. They complained of typical symptoms after a lightning strike, such as tingling in the extremities. According to the information, all patients received emergency medical treatment and were then distributed to surrounding hospitals.
The police cordoned off the area and a helicopter was also used to find any other injured people. The emergency services called on people who had been in the area to seek medical care immediately if they had symptoms.
Since it could not be ruled out that other people were affected and fled as a result, the fire brigade turned to possible other injured people with a request: “If you complain about symptoms such as a racing heart, palpitations, numbness or tingling in the extremities, then leave See a doctor immediately!” The emergency services announced this in the evening.
11.33 a.m.: After constant rain and flooding in the southwest, it will remain wet in Germany on Whit Monday and in the coming days. On Monday there were heavy showers and thunderstorms, especially in the northern half, said the German Weather Service (DWD) in Offenbach. These could be accompanied by heavy rain and hail locally. “When you take a walk on Whit Monday, you should pay close attention to the sky there,” said Nico Bauer from the DWD forecast center.
There could be more rain in the flood areas on Tuesday. According to the forecast, dense clouds will gather in the southern half and it will rain in the southwest. Strong thunderstorms with heavy rain are also possible from southeast Bavaria to the Eifel. “Severe amounts of rain are occurring locally,” it said. In the north, however, it should be sunny. The maximum values are between 28 degrees in the north and 17 degrees in the southwest.
According to the forecast, the rainy weather will move north on Wednesday night. There is then a local risk of severe weather due to strong thunderstorms with heavy rain. In the north, humid weather is expected with temperatures between 22 and 27 degrees, otherwise temperatures are between 17 and 23 degrees.
8.21 a.m.: Heavy rain with 15 liters per square meter is possible in Saarland and Rhineland-Palatinate in a short period of time on Monday, the DWD announced in the morning. Storm-like quantities of over 25 liters per square meter are therefore unlikely. “It will be interesting on Tuesday,” said meteorologist Markus Böse from the DWD in Offenbach on Sunday. Then some heavy rains developed again, “which from today’s perspective mainly affect the southwest of the country”.
Although the calculated amounts of rain are not as high as last Friday, most of the rain falls within six to twelve hours, said Böse. If the Saarland and the Palatinate are again the focus of rainfall, rising water levels and possibly floods and floods must be expected there again.
You can read more about the current weather situation on the next pages.
