Danger of flooding

First pre-alert level already reached on the Danube

Protective measures have already been taken in Linz.(Bild: Dostal Harald)

Due to the intensive rainfall in Bavaria over the past few days, the water levels of the Bavarian and Upper Austrian Danube are currently at a high level. It also rained heavily again on Monday, especially from midday. As a result, the pre-alert limits for the Danube were exceeded in the afternoon.

In Upper Austria, mobile flood protection is in place on the Inn and Danube. The Danube is expected to reach its highest level late Tuesday afternoon. In Linz, this will be 650 centimetres - at this height, the Urfahr market area could be flooded.

For the market town of Saxen (Perg district), a warning was issued to the population at the Dornach pumping station. The Danube has reached a water level in this area that will soon cause the Danube embankment (including the Treppelweg) to overflow. Flooding is to be expected here. The escape route over the dam to the Dornach pumping station will be interrupted.

The Inn and Salzach also continue to rise and reach their highest levels on Tuesday morning. "A second flood wave is expected in the night to Tuesday, but like the first, this should not be a problem," reassures fire department commander Markus Furtner from Schärding. The mobile flood protection on the Inn in Schärding remains in place, it reached up to 6.50 meters on Monday. "We could still rebuild."

According to Furtner, the Inn reached 5.09 meters in the first flood wave on Sunday night. A water level of up to 5.20 meters is also expected in the coming night.

The first phase of flood protection has been set up in Linz. The water level there could reach 6.50 meters by Tuesday, which is one meter above the warning limit, said Reinhard Enzenebner from the hydrographic service.

There was also flooding in Frankenburg after heavy rain showers(Bild: FF Frankenburg/Simon Mühllechner)

Thunderstorms with heavy rainfall kept fire departments on their toes across the country on Monday. Locally, this led to numerous small-scale floods. Around 6 p.m., there were around 100 call-outs - mainly in the particularly hard-hit regions of Linz-Land, Eferding, Grieskirchen and Schärding. In most cases, cellars had to be pumped out or flooded streets or underpasses had to be cleared of water.