Heavy downpours in Berlin, weekend storms forecast

Weather warnings are in place across large parts of Germany, with severe thunderstorms and heavy rain expected over the weekend.

The German Weather Service (DWD) said in its summary for Saturday, "With the exception of the west and northwest, ongoing storm activity is spreading, with localized (sometimes extreme) severe weather caused by heavy rain." 

Storm warnings were in place in parts of the southwest, southeast and east of the country, but most of them had been downgraded to level 2 (on a scale going up to 4) or lower by around 4 a.m. local time on Saturday. 

Friday already saw Berliners canceling several significant events in the German capital as heavy showers caused flash flooding in some areas.

Weather ruins Berlin's Friday night

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his wife had to cancel an event they were hosting for 1,500 people who were doing volunteer work.

"Thunderstorms are circling over Berlin," Steinmeier told his guests.

He vowed to invite them back for a proper event at his official residence, Bellevue Palace, next year.

The Berlin State Ballet postponed a performance, "From Berlin with Love", that would have taken place on a boat on the river Spree to September, citing "bad weather conditions."

Punk band Die Ärzte ended a concert at Tempelhofer Feld early due to the "approaching storm." They were planning to continue with shows scheduled in Berlin on Saturday and Sunday.

Drought-like conditions remain

Although it caused some localized flooding, many people would welcome the rain after warm and drought-like conditions in Germany in recent weeks.

The water levels on the Rhine reached dangerously low levels last week, impacting freight transport on the major river. 

Heavy rains and flash floods last weekend in Bavaria have since helped to boost the Rhine's levels, though they remain unusually low even for late summer. 

The German Federal Statistics Agency, Destatis, on Friday published data on inland shipping statistics for the first half of 2022, partly in response to the recent disruptions. It only had data from before the dry spell, which showed a small year-on-year increase and that coal remained the most commonly-shipped product on rivers, but it noted that the last comparable dry spell in 2018 led to an 11.1% dip in freight volumes. 

Shipping companies had already warned that they were forced to run boats with only small amounts of cargo to ensure they could pass shallower points on the Rhine river.

lo/msh (dpa)