The death toll from floods that have engulfed parts of southern Germany has risen to four, as emergency workers continue to evacuate people.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who visited the area Monday, said the water could rise in some areas of the region.
Police in Baden-Wuerttemberg said Monday the bodies of a man and a woman were found in Schorndorf, near Stuttgart, in the basement of their house in the flood’s aftermath. The heavy rains have forced people to evacuate their homes in the regions of Bavaria and Baden-Wuerttemberg.
Earlier Monday, the body of a 43-year-old woman was found in Schrobenhausen, Bavaria.
On Sunday, a firefighter’s body was found in Pfaffenhofen after his boat capsized.
The flooding has also resulted in widespread disruption to train schedules.
A high-speed train traveling between Stuttgart and Augsburg was derailed by a landslide that blocked the rails, according to an Agence France-Presse report. No one was hurt in the incident, the news agency said.
Scholz said the flooding could no longer be looked at as a “one-off” event.
“This is not just one event like there have been for centuries. … This is an indication that something is up here,” he said. “We must not neglect the task of stopping man-made climate change.”
Weather forecasters warned Monday that more heavy rains are expected in parts of southern and eastern Germany.
Bavarian Minister-President Markus Soder said conditions in the region remain “critical and tense,” with water receding in some places but new flooding and evacuations elsewhere. He noted that water levels are expected to rise in Regensburg and farther down the Danube River.
Soder said there is no “full insurance” against climate change.
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse.
