Bavaria's municipalities aimlessly in the heat: deaths continue to rise - "immense numbers"
Created: 07/05/2022Updated: 07/05/2022 05:04
By: Thomas Eldersch
Heat is also becoming an increasing problem in Bavaria.
Not only does nature suffer from excessive temperatures, but also vulnerable population groups.
Munich – Even before the start of summer on June 21, the temperatures in Bavaria had already risen to over 35 degrees.
Like everywhere else in the world, the Free State is struggling with climate change.
It's getting hotter earlier and longer.
This is especially a problem for pre-existing, older and very young people.
The number of heat deaths increased extremely in particularly hot summers.
Danger from heat in Bavaria: Every degree more increases the risk
Do more people die from heat than from road traffic?
This can happen in hot summers.
The Augsburg environmental researcher and professor for regional climate change and health, Elke Hertig, has examined the consequences of excessive temperatures.
In the exceptionally hot summer of 2003, 7,600 people died.
In 2015 there were 6100. The trend is increasing, the researcher told BR.
There are no figures for Bavaria yet, but people with circulatory diseases are particularly at risk, according to Hertig.
"We see that mortality increases by around 3.8 percent per degree of temperature rise," says the scientist.
“Well, those are immense numbers.” Hertig warns that there will be more days over 38 degrees in the future.
The German Weather Service (DWD) also regularly warns of excessive temperatures.
It is not the actual values that are decisive, but the felt ones.
According to the DWD, these are dependent on humidity, radiation, wind and the actual temperatures.
So if the values are over 32 degrees for two days in a row, the warning follows.
In the past five years, this has happened 79 times in Bavaria, writes the BR.
The cities of Aschaffenburg, Altötting, Miltenberg and Würzburg as well as the districts of Rottal-Inn and Passau are particularly affected.
Heat deaths in Bavaria: Municipalities have to draw up a concept
Cities are also the focus when it comes to avoiding heat-related deaths.
Municipalities are responsible for protecting their citizens.
But as the BR found out and the State Office for Health and Food Safety (LGL) has confirmed, there is still no heat action plan in any municipality or city.
The LGL wants to work on the problem at least with a working group that has existed since September 2021 and that also includes clinics and care associations.
It is already certain that older people in particular are at risk.
They frequently forget to drink, become dehydrated and end up with kidney failure.
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Other countries and regions in Germany are already further ahead in terms of heat.
In France, for example, major events would be canceled if the temperatures were too high.
In Vienna there are around 1000 drinking water fountains in the city.
There has been a heat telephone in Kassel for twelve years.
Seniors are called there when the temperature is high and reminded to drink.
Other municipalities open their air-conditioned rooms such as libraries or museums to their citizens.
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Bavaria is following suit: model regions and heat action plans
But something is happening in Bavaria.
Würzburg, one of the hottest cities in the Free State, wants to draw up a heat action plan, writes the BR.
In Augsburg, Regensburg and Munich, they want to present similar plans to the respective city councils.
Martin Heilig (Greens), climate mayor in Würzburg, knows that the risk of heat is often not correctly assessed.
"You have to answer that with a clear 'yes', that overall the problem was underestimated for a long time and actually still is underestimated."
In cooperation with the Technical University of Munich, it was discovered that more rescue operations are being carried out in parts of the city where overheating is particularly severe.
"Especially when we have nights, the so-called tropical nights, where it doesn't drop below 20 degrees.
This is a very, very big burden for people who are already in poor health anyway, and both for children and for the elderly," the mayor told BR.
Something is also happening in Straubing.
As a model region, a guide is to be developed here that can be transferred to other municipalities.
The master plan should be in place in around a year and a half.
Then it will be clear what to do in case of great heat and how the citizens can be protected.
And it's about time.
Scientists are certain that the number of hot days will increase.
While there have been 15 days in summer in Bavaria with temperatures above 30 degrees, it could be more than 50 by the end of the century.
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