Heavy showers and gusts of wind of up to 70 kilometers (43.5 miles) per hour were scheduled to hit parts of northwest Germany on Saturday, the country’s weather agency DWD said. In the southern state of Bavaria, weather experts warned that “extreme flash floods” were possible.
However, the scope of the storms is expected to be far less severe than the heavy rainfall which caused catastrophic floods and resulted in almost 200 people losing their lives last week. Some 30,000 survivors are still without electricity or drinking water.
The floods have devastated multiple regions in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Rheinland-Palatinate, which are now bracing for even more rainfall.
Officials issue warnings through social media
German authorities offered evacuation to residents of the recently flooded areas along the Ahr River, according to public broadcaster WDR.
Localized showers are expected in the river valley.
While the situation is “not as dire as last week” the region no longer has a properly working sewage system, said the head of the local emergency response staff. This would make the effects of the rain different then before.
The weather agency also warned of increased storm risk in the state of Saarland, which borders Rheinland-Palatinate. Germany’s southern Alpine regions, near Switzerland and Austria, are also at risk of “severe thunderstorms with strong showers, squalls … and hail.”
German authorities said they were using social media and flyers to warn people in areas that might be affected.
Storms likely to be ‘localized’
It is predicted this weekend’s weather will include heavy showers, thunderstorms and hail, but experts also said storms are expected to be “strictly localized.”
Rainfall of around 10 to 25 liters per square meter (57 to 142 cubic inches per square foot) over a one to three-hour period is anticipated in North Rhine-Westphalia, which is Germany’s most populous state.
In isolated cases up to 40 liters per square meter (227 cubic inches per square foot) of rain is possible.
However, as we move into Sunday, the showers and thunderstorms will move with some momentum in a northerly direction towards Lower Saxony, where the storms are expected to dissipate.
-
In pictures: Deadly extreme weather shocks the world
Fierce flash floods in Europe
Unprecedented flooding — caused by two months’ worth of rainfall in two days — has resulted in devastating damage in western Europe, leaving at least 209 people dead in Germany and Belgium. Narrow valley streams swelled into raging floods in the space of hours, wiping out centuries-old communities. Rebuilding the ruined homes, businesses and infrastructure is expected to cost billions of euros.
-
In pictures: Deadly extreme weather shocks the world
Extreme rainy seasons
Record floods have also hit parts of India and China, overwhelming dams and drains and flooding the subway system in the central Chinese city of Zhengzhou. Dozens of people have died. The downpours have been particularly heavy, even for the rainy season. Scientists have predicted that climate change will lead to more frequent and intense rainfall — warmer air holds more water, creating more rain.
-
In pictures: Deadly extreme weather shocks the world
Heat records in the US, Canada
Intense heat is also becoming more common, as seen in late June in the US states of Washington and Oregon and the Canadian province of British Columbia. Scorching temperatures under a “heat dome,” hot air trapped for days by high pressure fronts, caused hundreds of heat-related deaths. The village of Lytton recorded a high of 49.6 Celsius (121 Fahrenheit) — and burned to the ground the next day.
-
In pictures: Deadly extreme weather shocks the world
Wildfires sparking thunderstorms
The heat wave may be over but dry conditions are fueling one of the region’s most intense wildfire seasons. Oregon’s Bootleg Fire, which has burned an area the size of Los Angeles in just two weeks, is so big it’s creating its own weather and sending smoke all the way to New York. A recent study said the weather conditions would have been “virtually impossible” without human-caused climate change.
-
In pictures: Deadly extreme weather shocks the world
Amazon nearing a ‘tipping point’?
To the south, central Brazil is suffering its worst drought 100 years, increasing the risk of fires and further deforestation in the Amazon rainforest. Researchers recently reported that a large swath of the southeastern Amazon has flipped from absorbing to emitting planet-warming CO2 emissions, pushing the rainforest closer to a “tipping point.”
-
In pictures: Deadly extreme weather shocks the world
‘On the verge of starvation’
After years of unrelenting drought, more than 1.14 million people in Madagascar are food-insecure, with some now forced to eat raw cactus, wild leaves and locusts in famine-like conditions. With the absence of natural disaster, crop failure or political conflict, the dire situation in the southeastern African nation is said to be first famine in modern history caused solely by climate change.
-
In pictures: Deadly extreme weather shocks the world
More people fleeing natural disasters
The number of people fleeing conflict and natural disasters hit a 10-year high in 2020, with a record 55 million people relocating within their own country. That’s in addition to some 26 million people who fled across borders. A joint report released by refugee monitors in May found that three-quarters of the internally displaced were victims of extreme weather — and that number is likely to grow.
Author: Martin Kuebler
DPA contributed to this article
Article source: https://www.dw.com/en/germany-storm-warning-issued-as-country-reels-from-floods/a-58623846?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf