Storms are again expected in parts of Germany on Saturday. Thunderstorms and rainfall are expected, especially in the east, south and east-central. The German Weather Service (DWD) announced that there could still be heavy rain.
Around 50 liters per square meter could fall locally in a short time, said DWD meteorologist Marcel Schmid on Friday. “This corresponds in part to half a month’s total or more than has fallen in the whole of August,” said Schmid. In the course of the weekend, cooler and drier air should then prevail from the north-west and drive out the muggy, warm air masses.
Storms with hail and heavy rain had already swept across parts of Germany on Friday. Hundreds of cellars and several streets were under water in Middle Franconia and in the Upper Palatinate. On Friday evening, the integrated control center in Nuremberg reported around 470 deployments by fire brigades and technical relief organizations in Nuremberg, Fürth and the districts of Fürth and Erlangen-Höchstadt. There were no injuries.
According to initial estimates, a lightning strike in Weingarten near Karlsruhe caused damage in the millions. According to witnesses, the lightning struck on Saturday night, as the police announced in the morning. The building houses halls that are used as car repair shops, paint shops and warehouses. When the fire brigade arrived, one hall was already fully engulfed in flames.
According to the police, the flames were fanned further when they spread to a paint shop. Gas bottles also exploded. Several parcels were affected. The extinguishing work continued on Saturday morning. Surrounding houses were evacuated to be on the safe side. Nobody got hurt. The fire brigade was on site with around 300 forces from surrounding regions.
Because of water masses and debris on the road, the police closed the Pforzheim-Ost junction of the Autobahn 8 in the direction of Stuttgart on Friday evening. The right lane was also closed for several hours because mud was spreading. Nobody got hurt. At times there was a traffic jam of up to five kilometers.
Three people were injured in an aquaplaning accident on the A 81 near Ludwigsburg. A 51-year-old driver skidded his car on the wet road on Friday evening, crashed into the guardrail on the left and turned around his own axis several times. Rescue workers took the inmates to hospitals.
In the Rhine-Neckar region, the fire brigade deployed more than 350 missions on Friday evening, as a spokesman announced on Saturday morning. In the region around Konstanz, cellars, streets and underpasses were flooded and manhole covers were flushed out of sewage shafts. Nobody got hurt. In Zell am Harmersbach (Ortenaukreis), a slope fell onto a street and streets were flooded, a spokesman said. Trees and construction fences fell in other regions.
A number of traffic accidents occurred in Salzgitter. Because of the amount of water, parts of the streets in the Lebenstedt district were completely closed, the police said on Saturday. As a result of the storm, various license plates were handed over to the police. Holders could inquire about missing license plates until Monday, it said. Underpasses and basements were also flooded in Wolfsburg. Events there were also canceled due to the storm warning on Friday evening.
In Berlin, the punk band Die Ärzte and rapper Marteria canceled concerts planned for Friday evening, while Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his wife Elke Büdenbender ended the festival for volunteers early to be on the safe side.
In Pinneberg in Schleswig-Holstein, numerous streets, cellars and underground car parks were full of water on Friday morning. According to the fire department, 130 basements and streets were affected. In Weingarten, Baden-Württemberg, a 3000 square meter warehouse caught fire after a lightning strike on Saturday night, nobody was injured.
For Sunday, individual showers and thunderstorms are again forecast for the south, sometimes with heavy rain. In the north-east there can be showery rain at first. Otherwise, the sky is loosely cloudy, especially in the south-west, according to the DWD, it will remain sunny and dry for longer. The maximum values are between 20 and 28 degrees.
