Overall Orange Flood
in Germany

Event summary

Flood can have a medium humanitarian impact based on the magnitude, exposed population and vulnerability.

GDACS ID FL 1102407
Glide number: FL-2023-000257-DEU
Death: 0
Displaced: -
Countries: Germany
From - To 18 Dec - 03 Jan

GDACS Score

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Virtual OSOCC
Meteo assessment
Satellite products
Analytical products
North-western Europe - Severe weather (ECHO 04 Jan 2024)Thu, 04 Jan 2024 11:26

  • Heavy rain, snow, strong winds, and cold temperatures are affecting several countries of north-western Europe (particularly northern France, the UK, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Scandinavia).
  • In France, 466 residents have been evacuated in the Pas-de-Calais since 30 December due to flood episode. 10,000 houseolds experienced power cuts in Nord and Pas-de-Calais departments. 2,100 persons are deprived of drinking water. 189 cities are impacted and 70 roads are closed.
  • Germany and France activated the EU Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM). Six EU Member States (Austria, France, Hungary, the Netherlands, Slovakia and Sweden) offered assistance to Germany and four EU Member States (Czechia, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Slovakia) offered assistance to France.
  • The Copernicus Emergency Management Service (EMSR712, EMSR713) was activated in rapid mapping mode to provide damage assessment in Germany.
  • For the next 24 hours, moderate rain is expected over parts of central Germany, western Czechia and northern France. Heavy snow, low temperatures and strong winds are expected over Denmark and southern Scandinavia.
North-western Europe - Severe weather and floods, update (ECHO 05 Jan 2024)Fri, 05 Jan 2024 10:02

  • Widespread floods triggered by heavy rainfall are still affecting several countries in Western Europe particularly France, the UK, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. In the meantime, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Finland experienced snowstorms and low temperatures resulting in disruptions.
  • According to the Operational Center for Crisis Management (COGIC), in France two people have been slightly injured and 710 others have been evacuated in Pas-de-Calais. In addition, media report almost 2,016 damaged houses. 
  • In the Netherlands, on Wednesday a dike that regulates the water levels was washed away, a number of houseboats were being evacuated as a precaution due to possible river overflow.
  • In Sweden, heavy snow caused huge traffic disruptions. 
  • Germany and France activated the EU Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM) and are receiving assistance from four EU Member States.
  • The Copernicus Emergency Management Service (EMSR712, EMSR713) was activated in rapid mapping mode to provide damage assessment in Germany.
  • For the next 24 hours, light to moderate rain is forecast in Belgium and the Netherlands while light rain and snow with low temperatures are expected across northern Germany. 
Flood in Germany - EC/ECHO daily mapFri, 05 Jan 2024 17:57

A new EC/ECHO daily map is now available
Flood in Germany - EC/ECHO daily mapWed, 10 Jan 2024 18:21

A new EC/ECHO daily map is now available
Lower Saxony, Germany, late December 2023 to early January 2024At around 40 gauges in Lower Saxony water levels above are 2/4 are measured. As the water level have risen since 2023/12/18 several of the already softened dikes have reached their capacity and are in danger of bursting. All of the available German mobile flood containment resources are already being used. With further rainfall expected from the 2024/01/02 onwards no de-escalation is expected. The Copernicus Emergency Management Service (EMSR712) was activated in rapid mapping mode to provide damage assessment, with 58 maps produced so far. According to the Copernicus assessment around 21 750 people are potentially affected. Following the activation of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM) on 30 December, several offers of assistance were made. Germany accepted an offer from France in the form of flood containment barriers with a team of 39 responders and eleven vehicles.Wed 3 Jan 2024Provided by Copernicus EMS GloFAS
Detailed event map. European Union, 2026. Map produced by EC-JRC.
The boundaries and the names shown on this map do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by the European Union.

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Exposed population

Data, images, links, services and documents

For this events, GDACS has links to information from the following sources: EC-JRC (36), NASA (3), WMO (1), INFORM (2), (1),