Austrian village issues safety alert
People in Deutschfeistritz, a town in Styria, Austria, can't leave their houses because of heavy rain. The downtown area can only be accessed with a boat as cars are getting carried away. The town's officials have issued a warning about impending danger due to the ongoing rainfall.
The small Austrian town with 4,000 residents is facing severe flooding, and the municipality warned residents to stay inside as another front might bring up to 100 liters of rain every square meter. According to a report by the "Kleine Zeitung," the town's center is now accessible only by boat. Some drivers were stuck in their cars but managed to be rescued, said a spokesperson for the newspaper. Photos revealed that water was pushing cars against house walls. After Saturday's torrential rainfall, the Ubelbach stream, passing through the town, became a dangerous flood. The Red Cross has set up a relief station for basic supplies at a school center, as per the local authorities.
Civil defense alarms were also set off in several towns in Styria due to the flooding. No victims have been reported yet. There was a landslide in Styria that blocked an autobahn. The autobahn operator Asfinag closed the highway due to the earth and debris.
Weather updates in Southern Germany
There were no significant fire brigade interventions in Southern Germany as the storms and heavy rain eased off in the evening. The German Weather Service had issued extreme weather alerts for several districts in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg earlier. Most of the warnings have since been lifted.
In Veringenstadt, a small town near Reutlingen, firefighters pumped out water from the streets and basements. The rain was so heavy that it overloaded the sewer system and couldn't be drained away, according to a firefighter.
In Bavaria, police and fire department officials in Rosenheim and Kempten reported no unusual increase in interventions compared to usual. In Swabia, hail was falling in some areas. Several parts of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg had been battling extreme flooding, and the situation was particularly severe in Regensburg, where the Danube's water levels were still high and refusing to drop.
