Weather – Offenbach am Main – no disaster situation expected, risk: littered drains – panorama

Düsseldorf / Offenbach (dpa / lnw) – The German Weather Service (DWD) is not expecting any new severe weather catastrophe in North Rhine-Westphalia this weekend. That said, meteorologist Jacqueline Kerrn on Saturday the German press agency in Düsseldorf. This time, no long-lasting heavy rain is to be expected across the board.

In individual areas that have already been damaged by floods, however, problems could arise from the evening onwards, when large amounts of rain flushed rubbish into the drains and thus clogged them. There are still mountains of bulky waste on many streets.

In the early evening, the DWD issued an official level 2 warning of strong thunderstorms with gusts of wind around 70 kilometers per hour, heavy rain and hail. According to the warning card, the Münsterland and northern parts of the Ruhr area were initially particularly affected. The amount of precipitation was given as 20 to 30 liters per square meter within six hours.

For comparison: In the past week, extensive continuous rain with rain amounts of more than 150 liters per square meter caused the flood catastrophe in parts of North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate.

Municipalities already damaged by floods, such as Leichlingen in the Rheinisch-Bergisches Kreis, have already prepared for new heavy rain and exposed drains. According to the Cologne district government, pump capacities were made available at the Steinbach dam as a precaution in order to keep the water level below a critical level. Her dam had been feared for days in the past week.

The State Office for Nature, Environment and Consumer Protection warned the citizens: “Stop working on the waters when it rains.” Local heavy rain could suddenly lead to local flooding in bodies of water where the runoff was already impaired by sand or gravel banks, trees and other debris from past storms.

A first rain front with moderate precipitation had already reached southern parts of North Rhine-Westphalia by noon. It also rained in the district of Euskirchen, in Bad Münstereifel and in Eftstadt-Blessem, which was particularly badly damaged by the storm of the century.

The heavy rain last week had washed a deep gullet into the earth in Blessem. No one is allowed to approach the demolition edge within 100 meters. Road markings indicate this. With many private supporters, soldiers and emergency services from aid organizations, the on-site clean-up work continued even when it rained. In Blessem, employees of the Geological Service of North Rhine-Westphalia and emergency chaplains were still on the road.

Residents had put up a large sign saying: “THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU”. Among the sorted out belongings on the side of the road were once loved treasures such as a signed, but now scruffy football of the German national team and a school skeleton smeared with mud.

The Rhein-Erft district appealed to citizens to wear gloves when cleaning up. “Germs can be found in mud and dirty water,” it said in a press release. The district also announced that it would work up and improve the alerting chains in the event of a disaster. According to a spokesman, no heavy rain events were recorded in the district until the early evening. The Erftverband have taken precautions so that the waters do not overflow.

Unlike in the Rhineland-Palatinate Ahr Valley, the police in North Rhine-Westphalia did not report any traffic congestion due to the influx of helpers. A spokesman for the Euskirchen district police told the dpa that many had headed for Bad Münstereifel. “But the excavators and trucks are also needed right now. We assessed everything with a sense of proportion and did not issue any prohibited zones.”

According to the Interior Ministry, the number of fatalities in North Rhine-Westphalia who have been killed by the storm has not changed: “North Rhine-Westphalia mourns 47 people,” tweeted the authority.

The thunderstorms should initially subside on Sunday night. From Sunday noon, however, new thunderstorms with local heavy rain and gusts of wind at 80 kilometers per hour are expected. “If there are repeated occurrences of locally storm-like quantities of 40 liters per square meter,” it says in the warning report. The thunderstorm should then subside again on Sunday evening and during the night.

© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210724-99-504739 / 5

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