Violent storms lashed parts of Germany overnight, causing numerous injuries and flash flooding that briefly raised local water levels by almost 2 metres.
Hardest hit was the south-western state of Rhineland-Palatinate, where river water in one area surged from 27 centimetres to 1.96 metres in under four hours. Such flooding occurred statistically only once every 50 years, said a spokeswoman for the affected Rhein-Lahn district.
However, flood warnings had already been issued, and emergency services were already on standby. Outdoor events were cancelled as a precaution.
The fire department was called out dozens of times, but major damage was avoided, and the water level receded during the night, officials said.
In the adjacent state of Baden-Württemberg, nine people were injured by a nighttime lightning strike during a sports festival. Six were taken to hospital, but none were in a life-threatening condition, according to a spokesman.
Several people had pitched tents on a sports field for a handball festival in the town of Rastatt near Karlsruhe when a severe storm swept through the region.
A woman was slightly injured by another lightning strike about 100 kilometres south-east, also on a sports field. Emergency services transported her to hospital.
At the northern tip of Germany, 13 people sustained minor injuries when a storm wrought havoc at a festival near the city of Flensburg. The event in Viöl with around 5,000 attendees was temporarily evacuated overnight but allowed to resume on Saturday morning.
The German Weather Service predicted more thunderstorms for Saturday, mainly in western and southern areas of the country. The meteorologists had previously issued severe weather warnings for the regions of Aachen, Bonn, Cologne, Dusseldorf and other parts of the Ruhr region.
