Experts have issued warnings for flash foods, but say the brief rainfall will not be enough to refill the country's dry rivers. In Spain and Portugal, wildfires were finally brought under control.
Water levels in many European rivers are lower than they have been in centuriesImage: Rina Goldenberg-Huang/DW
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Officials in Germany said on Thursday that the rainfall hitting the country after weeks of dry weather would not be enough to raise water levels high enough to restore normal river traffic.
The rain will not be long or sustained enough, according to the German Weather Service (DWD), and will mostly be confined to the north, east and parts of the south of Germany.
Drought: Germany's rivers dying of thirst
Weeks without rain have led the water levels of the Rhine, Oder, Spree and other rivers to sink to record lows. It's resulted in shipping disruptions. But there are also some surprises emerging.
Image: Ying Tang/NurPhoto/IMAGO
A matter of draft
When fully loaded, the entire black part of a cargo ship's hull rests under the water. But this is currently not possible on many German rivers. Now, cargo ships may only be partially loaded. And if the load falls below a certain level, transport by ship is no longer worthwhile.
Image: Roberto Pfeil/dpa/picture alliance
No water, no cooling
The rivers are also important water sources for cooling power plants and industrial production sites, such as this Thyssen steel factory in Duisburg. If the water level drops too low, not only are larger ships unable sail, but power plants may also have to be shut down if cooling water is no longer accessible.
Image: Jochen Tack/dpa/picture alliance
A critical juncture
The scenery near Kaub is a popular photo motif on the Middle Rhine. Now, this is the most critical point along several hundred kilometers of river because it is particularly shallow. When the channel depth is less than 1.5 meters (5 feet), passage becomes dangerous. By August 15, it had fallen to 1.43 meters.
Image: Sascha Ditscher/IMAGO
Ferries also high and dry
Some ferry services as well can no longer operate, since the ferries are unable to reach landing points, such as here in Mannheim on the Upper Rhine. This has consequences for commuters, who sometimes have to plan long detours because there are no bridges nearby.
Image: René Priebe/PR-Video/picture alliance
Extra-wide beaches
The weeks-long heat has also warmed the water. Against the backdrop of Cologne Cathedral, exceptionally wide beaches have emerged for locals to enjoy. However, the authorities have been issuing urgent warnings against swimming: the current of the Rhine remains very dangerous.
Image: Christian Knieps/dpa/picture alliance
Also dry out east
Although cargo ships have been unable to sail on the upper Elbe for weeks, passenger ships — which draw much less draft — may still ply the waters in some places, such as here in Dresden.
Image: Sebastian Kahnert/dpa/picture alliance
First a flood, then a trickle
Just over a year ago, the Ahr River in Rhineland-Palatinate swelled into a raging torrent. Over a hundred people lost their lives on this river, and hundreds of houses were destroyed. But the Ahr has now shrunk to a mere trickle, such as here in Bad Neuenahr.
Image: Thomas Frey/dpa/picture alliance
River. Gone.
This bed of the small Dreisam river near Freiburg in Baden-Württemberg looks more like a gravel road. The Dreisam is one of the many small German rivers that have all but completely dried up.
Image: Philipp von Ditfurth/dpa/picture alliance
Trash emerging
Some people dispose of things by throwing them in the Rhine. This old bicycle went unnoticed so long as it was underwater. Will the authorities seize the opportunity to properly dispose of such garbage?
Image: Vincent Jannink/ANP/picture alliance
Traces of a tragic accident
A wreck with a tragic history is now visible on the Lower Rhine close to the Dutch border. The Elisabeth, a wooden sailed barge loaded with dynamite, sank there in March 1895. For unknown reasons, the dangerous cargo exploded, killing more than a dozen people.
Image: Vincent Jannink/ANP/picture alliance
Dangerous discoveries
Still dangerous, on the other hand, are unexploded bombs from World War II. This aerial bomb was recovered from the riverbed of the dried-up Po in northern Italy, then detonated in a controlled manner. Such bombs come to light again and again in Germany as well. Often, entire neighborhoods have to be evacuated. Possible discoveries in German rivers are now causing concern.
Image: Flavio Lo Scalzo /REUTERS
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At the same time, the DWD had to issue a flash flood warning for areas around the Danube river in southern Germany, which was expected to be hit with heavy rain and thunderstorms on Friday.
Areas parched by drought suffer from increased likelihood of flash floods because of the soil's inability to absorb water quickly.
Outside of Berlin, a forest fire that had been started by errant police munitions that raged for days was finally brought under control. However, local officials announced that large parts of the Grunewald forest would be closed to visitors for up to a year as experts combed the woods for dangerous materials that may have scattered throughout the area during the blaze.
How is Europe dealing with the drought?
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Crisis felt across Europe
The low water levels in the Rhine have also deeply affected the Netherlands, through which the river also flows. Volunteers there have begun rescuing fish trapped in bodies of water that used to be connected by the country's intricate systems of canals and waterways.
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Teams from fishing clubs have been using nets to pluck up huge groups of carp, bream and pike out of distressed lakes and streams and bringing them to areas with more plentiful water.
In France, six people died in Corsica after a violent storm with hurricane-force winds battered the island. There was still no rain in the Loire valley, however, bringing river transport in the area to total standstill as the water was even too shallow for flat-bottomed tourist boats.
In Spain and Portugal, long-awaited rainfall meant that widespread wildfires could finally be brought under control. Thousands of firefighters had battled the fires and thousands of residents had been forced to leave their homes.
"The fire is under control, but it is not extinguished. Consolidation work will continue in the coming days," Portugal's civil protection commander, Miguel Oliveira, told TSF radio.
More than 25,000 hectares (62,000 acres) of land burned in Portugal during the latest spate of fires. In Spain; it was 13,000 hectares.
In Italy, the province of Tuscany was battered by storms after weeks of drought. The gales killed at least two people as a tornado hit the coastal town of Piombino.
Falling trees killed five people in Austria in two separate incidents as storms that hit the Mediterranean in the morning reached the Alpine country in the afternoon.
Two girls aged four and eight died when trees on the edge of a lake near the town of St Andrae in southern Austria, close to the border with Slovenia, collapsed, police said.
Three people were also killed by a falling tree in the area of the town of Gaming in Lower Austria. It was unclear whether the tree was felled by lightning or strong winds, he said.
