With new storms in the south and east of Germany, the district of Berchtesgadener Land in Upper Bavaria declared a disaster late on Saturday evening.

After torrential rain, the fire brigade in the Berchtesgadener Land district in Upper Bavaria had been in continuous operation with around 500 emergency services since Saturday evening.

Two people died in the flood area.

In the event of a death, however, it is still unclear whether it is related to the flood, said the spokeswoman for the Berchtesgadener Land district office, Alexandra Rothenbuchner.

The situation is dramatic, said a spokesman for the integrated control center in Traunstein. The water shot out of the mountains, at the same time the water levels of the river Ache rose. The places that were particularly affected were Berchtesgaden, Bischofswiesen, Schönau am Königssee, Marktschellenberg and Ramsau in the far south-east of Bavaria. There the water overflowed in places and flooded streets. Slopes slipped. Individual houses therefore had to be cleared, said Rothenbuchner. "There are always emergency calls coming in," said a police spokesman in Rosenheim.

According to media reports, the Ache has reached record water levels - by 10 p.m. they were already around 3.75 meters.

Pictures show streets that turn into raging brooks.

People wade knee-deep in the water.

The fire brigade is on duty every few hundred meters, reports an eyewitness.

Tractors cleared debris.

Sometimes the water is up to 50 centimeters high.

Saxony and Austria also affected

Likewise, in Chamerau in the Upper Palatinate, the Roßbach burst its banks due to heavy rain.

A building was protected from the water with sandbags, said a police spokesman.

In the entire district, there were five more fire services due to full basements or flooded streets.

In parts of Saxony, too, immense rainfall caused heavy flooding on Saturday. In Saxon Switzerland, several localities of cities and municipalities were no longer accessible. Neustadt, Sebnitz, Bad Schandau, Reinhardtsdorf-Schöna and Gohrisch are particularly affected, the district office informed in the evening. The railway line between Bad Schandau and the Czech Decin was closed. "The situation is tense, but manageable," said the situation center of the Ministry of the Interior in Dresden at the request of the German Press Agency.

Torrential rain also hit large parts of Austria on Sunday night. The fire brigades were in constant use in Salzburg as well as in Tyrol and the federal capital Vienna, as reported by the APA agency. Civil protection alarms were triggered in the city of Hallein, as well as in Mittersill in Pinzgau and in Kufstein in Tyrol. In the city of Salzburg, flood protection was built along the Salzach.

In Kufstein, people were asked not to leave buildings and to retreat to higher floors.

In the urban area, the water from the Inn's tributaries had already reached the streets.

Part of the Felbertauernstrasse was closed due to possible landslides.

In Vienna, heavy rain and thunderstorms caused the fire brigades to be very busy.

The firefighters were usually called because of flooded cellars or underpasses, and by Sunday morning the professional fire brigade reported over 500 operations.

More than 150 dead in western Germany

According to the latest information from the Koblenz police, over 110 people were killed in Rhineland-Palatinate. 670 people were injured. It is feared that more people will be killed and injured. "If you see the pictures, how it looks there, you can not rule out that more bodies will be found," a spokesman had said. People were still missing. The district of Ahrweiler is particularly hard hit.

In North Rhine-Westphalia, the number of confirmed fatalities on Saturday evening was 45, including four firefighters. NRW Prime Minister Armin Laschet (CDU), who visited the disaster area in Erftstadt with Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Saturday, promised direct aid for the people affected and said that “money would be paid out very unbureaucratically”. Steinmeier had called for solidarity and donations for the victims. “The willingness to support has to continue, both large and small,” he said. Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer has announced that he will be in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate for Monday. In addition, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands are also affected by the devastating floods.

After the devastating water has gradually withdrawn from many flood areas in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate, the search for fatalities and injuries continues in the rubble.

Merkel is traveling to Rhineland-Palatinate on Sunday and will get an idea of ​​the situation in the community of Schuld, which was hit particularly hard by the storm, the state chancellery in Mainz announced.

Afterwards (2.30 p.m.) a press statement is planned in Adenau - together with Prime Minister Malu Dreyer (SPD) and other Rhineland-Palatinate ministers.

Federal Finance Minister Olaf Scholz meanwhile promised emergency aid in the hundreds of millions. "It takes a national show of strength," said the SPD politician of "Bild am Sonntag". On Wednesday in the cabinet he wanted to put two things on the table. “Firstly, an immediate aid, with the last flood significantly more than 300 million euros were necessary. So much will be needed now, ”explained Scholz. “Second, we have to lay the foundations for a reconstruction program so that the destroyed houses, roads and bridges can be repaired quickly. As we know from the previous catastrophe, it is billions of euros. "