Lightning strikes Baden-Württemberg campsite during heat-driven storm; nine injured, one seriously

According to a police spokesperson, thirteen people were injured in the broader storm event, a figure that includes the campsite casualties and others affected elsewhere. The discrepancy between counts reflects initial assessments as emergency services continued to gather information overnight.

DWD warnings in the lead-up

The German Weather Service (DWD) had warned earlier in the day that hot, humid air would fuel isolated severe thunderstorms. "Dort dann im Laufe des Nachmittags Intensivierung und vereinzelte Unwetter wahrscheinlich," the DWD said in its afternoon update, cautioning that storms could intensify as the day progressed.

In Münsingen, lightning strikes and falling debris triggered widespread power outages. According to police, the supply was restored after roughly 90 minutes. The town's fire brigade recorded 35 operations around midnight, with no additional injuries reported in that response.

The storm followed days of high summer heat across Baden-Württemberg. On Friday, the warmest reading came from Waghäusel-Kirrlach in the Karlsruhe district, where the DWD measured 37.5 degrees Celsius. The service also warned that "Hitzebelastung ist eine ernstzunehmende Gefahr für die menschliche Gesundheit," framing heat stress as a serious health risk on its public guidance pages.

Heat preceded the storms

Daytime temperatures on Saturday were forecast to remain similar to Friday, with highs reaching up to 38 degrees. The DWD said it expected "schwülheißen 30 bis 38 Grad" nationwide, with the highest values in the southwest. By evening, forecasters said further thunderstorms were possible in many regions, "allerdings nur sehr kleinräumig und bei Weitem nicht überall," meaning only very localised and far from everywhere.

Meteorologists also announced heavy rain of up to 25 litres per square metre per hour and hail with grain sizes of one to two centimetres as the evening progressed. "Auch am Sonntag ziehen laut den Wetterexperten nach viel Sonne Schauer und 'örtlich kräftige Gewitter' auf," the DWD added, warning that showers and locally intense thunderstorms would follow sunny spells on Sunday as well.

The campsite struck by lightning was hosting a handball festival, according to reporting by KURIER. The event drew multiple people who had set up tents on a sports field. By the time the cell moved through, organisers and emergency workers were scrambling to evacuate the injured and secure the site.

Festivals and other events affected

Münsingen's local power network was among the most visibly affected by the storm. Police said crews had to repair lines and substations, but service was progressively restored within about 90 minutes. The town's fire brigade logged 35 separate operations by around midnight, ranging from fallen trees to flooded basements.

Friday had already been a record-setting day in some parts of Germany. The DWD said the national high on Friday was 38.5 degrees, recorded in Kitzingen near Würzburg. That reading underscored the unusually hot air mass sitting over central Europe heading into the weekend.

Flooding in Rhineland-Palatinate

Heat-driven storms also disrupted large outdoor events elsewhere. The Southside music festival near Konstanz in Baden-Württemberg, which attracts roughly 60,000 visitors, was temporarily interrupted on Friday because of a storm. Separately, a festival in Viöl, south of Flensburg in Schleswig-Holstein, was evacuated overnight from Friday into Saturday because of high winds.

In Rhineland-Palatinate, a separate flooding event unfolded in the same period. A measuring station at Kloster Arnstein showed the Dörsbach river rising from 27 centimetres at around 5 p.m. to 1.96 metres by 8:45 p.m. A district spokesperson said the flooding was, according to preliminary data, the kind statistically expected only once every 50 years.

The DWD operates a network of 60 weather stations across Baden-Württemberg, recording temperature, humidity, precipitation and wind speed on an hourly basis. From those readings, the service derives a five-level hazard scale ranging from 1 (very low) to 5 (very high), which it uses to issue colour-coded warnings to the public.

How the DWD measures risk

Authorities in Münsingen urged residents to avoid non-essential travel during the worst of the storm and to report downed power lines to the fire brigade. By Sunday morning, all nine injured people from the campsite had received medical attention, with the seriously injured person remaining in hospital, according to police.

Officials in the Reutlingen district said a full review of the campsite incident would be conducted once the injured had been treated and the site secured. Police asked any witnesses, particularly those who saw the lightning strike directly, to come forward to help reconstruct the sequence of events.

The episode highlights the risks that rapid storm development can pose during heat waves, a pattern meteorologists have linked to climate change in their long-term assessments. Public-health agencies, including the DWD, have increasingly framed heat as a hazard on par with severe weather, calling for water breaks, shade, and reduced exertion during peak afternoon hours.