Travel to Germany: Foreign Office issues new travel warning for popular holiday destination amid 'critical' floods that have killed five people

The Foreign Office has issued a new travel warning for Germany, a destination popular with UK holidaymakers, ahead of summer. The fresh warning comes as floods have hit the country after torrential rain.

Currently five people are known to have died since heavy rain led to rivers bursting their banks in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg. One of the victims was a woman who died when her car left the road and became submerged west of Munich. A Bavarian firefighter is also missing.

The Danube river burst its banks in Austria's third-largest city Linz leaving areas close to its banks submerged. The river reached 6.86m on Tuesday morning (4 June) and was expected to peak during the afternoon.

The Foreign Office has issued a travel warning on its ‘Safety and security’ page for Germany. It says: “Floods are affecting some parts of Germany, particularly in Bavaria and Baden Wurttemberg. Follow the advice of the local authorities, as well as the German Met Office, and be sure to check your transport plans before you travel.”

Torrential rain has fallen for days in much of southern Germany and a state of emergency has been declared in the Rosenheim area of Bavaria. Bavarian state premier Markus Söder has described the situation as "serious and critical".

In some areas of southern Germany, experts spoke of once-in-a-century levels of rainfall. Cars were swept away and residential areas were flooded. However, by Tuesday morning all severe weather warnings in southern Germany were lifted.