Heavy thunderstorms in Bavaria: flash flood sweeps everything away - rescue workers recover dead man from small truck

Created: 05/08/2022, 05:00

After heavy rain, the Upper Bavarian Bad Bayersoien is completely under water.

© Bartl

Heavy rain, flash floods and masses of water several meters high: There were violent thunderstorms in the Garmisch-Partenkirchen region on Thursday evening.

A man died in the floods.

Update from May 6, 2:57 p.m .:

Sad news from the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen: After the heavy rain and the flooding of the federal highway 23 on Thursday evening (see first report), rescue workers recovered a dead man from a small truck.

This was confirmed by a police spokesman on Friday in Saulgrub of the dpa.

Flooding near Garmisch-Partenkirchen: rescue workers recover the dead man

During the night, several drivers were surprised by the masses of water on the road in the Oberland.

The water collected in a lower section of the road and rose up to eight meters, the spokesman said.

Two cars and the small truck then stopped in the depression and were surrounded by rainwater.

Original May 6 article:

Saulgrub - Heavy thunderstorms swept across the Garmisch-Partenkirchen region on Thursday evening, May 5th - and caused sometimes chaotic conditions.

The communities of Bad Kohlgrub, Bad Bayersoien and Saulgrub were hit by heavy rainfall.

Storm in the Garmisch-Partenkirchen region: woman rescued from floods at the last minute

It must have been hell, a driver was saved from the floods at the last second.

The woman was brought to the railing of the street using a ladder.

The flash floods knocked out a fire engine and three other vehicles.

The water was around 5 meters high on the B23 Saulgrub bypass.

Divers search the flooded area.

The emergency services of the sunken fire engine were hypothermic and transported away with a shock.

After heavy rains, the streets became raging rivers.

© Dominik Bartl

The rainfall was so extreme that the fire brigades in the towns of Altenau, Saulgrub, Bad Bayersoien and Bad Kohlgrub could no longer cope with the masses.

In Bad Bayersoien there was a heavy flood that swept everything away.

Heavy thunderstorms in Upper Bavaria: Flash floods take everything with them - roads become raging rivers

The brown, muddy water made its way through apartments, into garages, basements and underground car parks.

Gardens were covered with mud.

6 fireworks and around 200 emergency services were deployed in Bad Bayersoien alone.

Streets became raging rivers in urban areas.

The extent will probably only be visible in daylight.

Heavy storms ensure a large-scale deployment of fire brigades and rescue workers in the Garmisch-Partenkirchen region.

© Dominik Bartl

As the dpa reports, the federal highway 23 near Saulgrub will remain closed on Friday because of the waterlogged tunnel.

"The fire brigade checks every hour whether there are still cars in the tunnel," said a spokesman for the Oberland integrated control center on Friday morning.

However, the emergency services had no information about missing people.

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Flash flood in the Garmisch-Partenkirchen region: the tunnel fills up with water – divers in action

According to the spokesman, fire brigades were alerted to more than 50 operations - mainly because of flooded basements, garages and flooded streets.

According to initial findings, there were no injuries.

A police spokesman confirmed the assessment.

A flash flood tore everything in the municipality of Bad Bayersoien with it - and also penetrated into houses.

© Dominik Bartl

It was initially unclear how long the tunnel on the B23 near Saulgrub will not be passable.

On Friday morning, divers should possibly be used again to search for people and vehicles in the water, it was said.

Divers had already tried to swim into the tunnel during the night.

But because of the darkness this was not possible.

It was initially unclear why all the rainwater caused the tunnel to fill up.

The spokesman for the control center suspected that pumps might not be working properly.