Germany: 4 presumed dead after floods in southwest

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In this Sunday, May 29, 2016 photo a mud covered car sits on a flooded street in Wellmich, western Germany. Authorities said three people are suspected to have died as floods strike southwest Germany. Southern and western Germany, along with other parts of Europe, experienced heavy rainstorms over the weekend. (Thomas Frey/dpa via AP)

BERLIN – Rainstorms in southwestern Germany triggered flooding that left one small town littered with debris and rubble, and led to accidents late Sunday and early Monday in which four people were presumed dead.

In Schwaebisch Gmuend, a firefighter and a man he was trying to rescue were sucked into a flooded underpass. Both men were presumed dead, though their bodies hadn’t yet been recovered Monday, police said.

The body of a third victim was found in a flooded garage in Weissbach near the city of Heilbronn. And in Schorndorf, near Stuttgart, a train fatally struck a 13-year-old girl as she sheltered from the rain under a railway bridge Sunday evening.

In the small town of Braunsbach, two streams burst their banks, unleashing floodwaters that destroyed one house, damaged several others and left streets strewn with debris.

Much of Germany and Europe experienced heavy rainstorms over the weekend.

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