Severe storms hit parts of Saxony and Bavaria in the evening and at night.
A flash flood tore a person with it in the Saxon town of Jöhstadt (Erzgebirgskreis).
The fire brigade, which was still in action in the Steinbach district late in the evening, initially looked unsuccessfully.
The police have not yet been able to provide further details about the accident.
The district of Hof in the Bavarian Upper Franconia has declared a disaster due to heavy rain.
This enables in particular a central coordination of the operations, said District Administrator Oliver Bär on Tuesday evening.
Since the late afternoon, the fire brigade, technical aid organization (THW) and rescue workers have been on duty in the district due to heavy rain.
There is severe flooding in some areas.
Fire brigades in constant use
A total of almost 1000 firefighters and 140 THW employees were on duty in the district.
In the particularly hard-hit city of Selbitz alone, they went to around 130 missions, as the district office announced on Wednesday night.
They pumped water from numerous cellars and procured sandbags.
Some residents had to leave their homes temporarily.
The German Weather Service (DWD) warned of storms in parts of Germany on Tuesday. For the federal states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland and Hesse, sometimes extremely heavy rain with thunderstorms was predicted. In addition, the DWD issued a severe weather warning for parts of Bavaria, Saxony and Thuringia due to severe thunderstorms.