Weather – Cologne – First restrictions on shipping on the Rhine due to flooding – Panorama
Cologne (dpa / lnw) – After the continuous rain of the past few days, the first high water mark of 6.20 meters was exceeded on Monday morning. At 11:00 a.m., 6.22 meters were measured. This would bring restrictions on shipping into force, said the spokesman for the Rhine Waterways and Shipping Office (WSA), Christian Hellbach. In the Cologne area, ships are only allowed to sail in the middle third of the river and have to reduce their speed. “It’s a normal flood wave at the beginning of the year, shipping is preparing for it.”
Water levels are expected to continue to rise for two more days, Hellbach said. The high water mark two, from which shipping must be stopped, will probably not be reached. The mark in Cologne is 8.30 meters.
As a precaution, the city of Cologne has closed footpaths and cycle paths near the Rhine, as announced on Monday. In addition, flood preparations such as the construction of a footbridge and the construction of a lifting gate in the Rodenkirchen district. According to the precipitation forecasts, the city is expecting a water level below seven meters by the middle of the week, i.e. well away from the high water mark two.
According to the state-wide flood portal (LHP), there were eleven out of 87 flood reports on smaller rivers in North Rhine-Westphalia on Monday afternoon. Flooding of the first of four levels was mainly reported – for example on the Sieg, the Lenne and the Volme. There were no official flood warnings in NRW until Monday noon, but there were two warnings near the state border for Rhineland-Palatinate for the Rhine and the Sieg.
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