Play
- In Germany there is continuous rain in Bavaria and Saxony
- In Munich, almost 100 liters of rain per square meter can accumulate by Tuesday
- In Dresden it is over 50 liters per square meter
Flood forecasts for Friday afternoon:
The water levels in the Czech Republic are already rising on Friday and Saturday, but the big wave will not build up until Sunday. The highest warning level is expected on the upper reaches of the rivers on Saturday.
Prague will be hit by a flood wave on Sunday. The water levels will rise rapidly. The peak may not even be reached until Monday night.
Elbe flooding inevitable
The first water level forecasts are in the red zone. From Monday night, a major flood is expected on the Elbe between Dresden and Schöna on the border. “From Monday, we have a flood alert,” says meteorologist Jan Schenk. The flood could continue for days on its way downstream.
Oder flooding from Monday
The rain in Poland is so heavy that we need to get all the sandbags out quickly. The rain in Saxony is already causing the water levels on the Oder and Neisse to rise. But then the wave from Poland is coming on top of that.
“It will take some time, but we have to prepare ourselves for something extreme,” says Schenk. Rainfall of up to 500 liters per square meter is something that only happens during a hurricane. Flooding of the Oder will hit us starting Monday.
In Poland, up to 500 litres of rain per square metre are falling. And this will ultimately lead to flooding on the Oder.
(TWC)
First report from Friday morning:
The storms have already started and will continue until Tuesday. The storm zone stretches roughly from Munich up to Dresden. However, there are differences.
Storms with continuous rain in Bavaria and Saxony
On Friday, persistent rain will arrive in Saxony and Bavaria, initially until Saturday morning. Then it will lessen in Saxony, while in the Alps it will continue to rain and snow until Sunday morning.
On Sunday you could feel safe again, because it will remain mostly dry. But then the rain will return intermittently. The rain will continue in the east until Monday and in the south until Tuesday morning.
Saxony and Bavaria are particularly affected. In Saxony, it is more the east, i.e. Dresden and Görlitz, as well as the region south to the Ore Mountains.
Almost 100 litres of rain in Munich
In Bavaria, the storm zone stretches from Füssen via Weilheim, Munich, Landshut, Rosenheim and Passau to the Bavarian Forest. In Berchtesgaden and Bad Reichenhall, there could be extremely heavy rain and snow.
In Munich it will rain up to 90 liters per square meter until Tuesday. The rain in Dresden will bring over 50 liters per square meter and in Bad Reichenhall it will be over 130 liters. In the Ore Mountains more than 100 liters are to be expected and in the Alps more than 150 liters per square meter.
But there is something special in the Alps.
More than one meter of fresh snow expected
Hikers should have left the mountains long ago, because it will not only be cold, but it will also snow extremely heavily. Even in the Bavarian Alps we can expect more than a meter of fresh snow at high altitudes. The snow line can sometimes drop to 1000 meters – especially at night. Below 1500 meters, however, nothing will stay, because the ground is still too warm and the snow will quickly melt again. It snowed on the Zugspitze on Thursday night:
Fresh snow on the Zugspitze
A lot of fresh snow accumulated on the Zugspitze during the night. Photo: Peter Kneffel/dpa
But it gets extreme at higher altitudes. But that is a much smaller problem for Germany than for Austria.
Flood danger from Saturday
Small and medium-sized rivers in the south and east, such as the Tiroler Ache, will experience flooding as early as Saturday.
But the large flood waves will flow from Poland and the Czech Republic into Saxony and Brandenburg. However, this is not expected before Sunday or Monday.
Record floods cannot be ruled out in our neighboring countries. It remains to be seen how badly Germany will be hit. But one thing is clear: the water is flowing to Germany and has to go somewhere.
We must prepare ourselves for a major flood situation in Saxony and Brandenburg – on the Elbe and Oder. In Bavaria, the water levels on small and medium-sized rivers could also rise sharply.
The weather warnings from the German Weather Service are limited to a few areas (as of Friday morning). But there is a lot of rain coming in the regions marked.
(TWC/DWD)
And this makes it clear that a look at the relatively unspectacular weather warning map this weekend is not enough to grasp the extent of the storms.
