Continuous rain - Flood situation tense: Some roads closed
In view of heavy rainfall, the flood situation in parts of Hesse is tense. The Hessian State Agency for Nature Conservation, Environment and Geology (HLNUG) announced on Christmas Eve that reporting level 3 had been exceeded at some river gauges. In the morning, reporting level 1 was exceeded at 30 gauges, reporting level 2 at 9 gauges and reporting level 3 at the Bad Karlshafen/Weser gauge. Some roads were also impassable due to the masses of water. The German Weather Service warned of further rainfall.
In the north-east Hessian districts of Hersfeld-Rotenburg and Werra-Meißner, several roads were closed on Sunday due to flooding. Parts of district road 29 near Bad Hersfeld, country road 3238 near Witzenhausen and country road 3242 near Berkatal were affected in both directions. Country road 3359 in Giessen also had to be closed.
The HLNUG explained that the rivers Diemel, Eder, Fulda and the Lahn and their western catchment areas were particularly affected as more continuous rain was expected, especially in the congested areas of the Rothaargebirge, Westerwald and Vogelsberg. Regionally, however, the rainfall has subsided and the flood waves have flowed from the upper to the lower reaches, so that these are now increasingly affected. In addition, in view of the new rainfall, it is likely that reporting levels will also be exceeded in southern Hesse.
Level 2 was in force on Sunday in northern Hesse at the Dalwigksthal/Orke, Schmittlotheim/Eder and Haueda/Diemel gauges as well as at the Fulda Bronzell and Bad Hersfeld 1 gauges. Level 3 had already been briefly exceeded the day before at the Dalwigksthal/Orke and Philippsthal/Ulster gauges. On the Werra and Weser, the outgoing flood wave from Thuringia has reached Hesse and is overlapping with the flood discharges from the Hessian tributaries of the Werra and Weser. As a result, reporting level 1 was exceeded at the Hessian Werra and Weser gauges, reporting level 2 at the Allendorf/Werra gauge and reporting level 3 at the Bad Karlshafen/Weser gauge, it said.
In the Lahn catchment area, reporting level 2 was reached at the Gießen-Klärwerk/Lahn and Leun/Lahn gauges. Reporting levels were also exceeded in the large river basins of the Rhine and Neckar outside Hesse. At the Rockenau/Neckar gauge, reporting level 2 was still in effect with a downward trend, while at the Mainz/Rhine gauge on the Hessian section of the Rhine, reporting level 1 was still in effect with a rising trend at 545 centimetres in the morning.
Level 1 is reached as soon as a body of water is full to the brim and in some places the water is already overflowing its banks. According to HLNUG, reporting level 2 corresponds to a "major flood", which floods properties close to the banks and occasionally causes cellars to overflow. From reporting level 3, towns and villages are enclosed by floodwater and roads are impassable.
The German Weather Service had forecast a further 5 to 15 liters of rain for Christmas Eve in addition to the 30 to 50 and occasionally around 60 liters of rain per square meter that had already fallen in the northern Hessian mountains by the evening. Further intermittent rainfall is expected during the night into Monday. A further 15 to 20 liters of rain per square meter are expected, especially in the area bordering North Rhine-Westphalia, and in some places it could even reach 25 liters per square meter. Christmas Day is also likely to be mostly overcast and rainy. Temperatures will reach up to twelve degrees and up to eight degrees at high altitudes, with stormy gusts from the southwest and gale-force winds at summits. The precipitation should then gradually ease over the course of Tuesday.
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Source: www.stern.de
