Deadly overnight storms batter Germany as Balkan countries fight wildfires

BERLIN (AP) — A woman died and at least two other people were injured as severe storms caused extensive damage overnight across parts of Germany. Further southeast, in the Balkans, firefighters continued to battle wildfires that have been raging across Europe all summer.

In Waldorf, in the southwestern state of Rhineland-Palatinate, a woman was struck by a falling tree and fatally injured, the German news agency dpa reported Thursday. Another woman suffered serious injuries in the accident, police said.

The women, 58 and 47, were walking together when a storm rolled in and they sought shelter under a covered seating area. Both women were struck when a tree was uprooted and fell onto the seating area. The 58-year-old died at the scene, a police spokesperson said. The 47-year-old was taken to a hospital.

A tornado struck the town of Fürstenwalde, 78 kilometers (49 miles) southeast of Berlin. Roofs were torn off and several cars were damaged by falling trees, and one person was injured, according to dpa.

In Höhr-Grenzhausen in the Westerwald district in western Germany, a storm tore walls from buildings. At least two homes were affected, according to dpa. Falling pieces of building facades and flying debris caused additional damage, and several trees were uprooted. A widespread power outage also hit the area, while strong gusts of wind overturned a truck on the A61 highway.

There were also numerous weather-related emergency calls overnight in Hesse, Thuringia and Bavaria.

A village festival in Kronach, Bavaria, was partially evacuated due to severe storms. About 3,500 guests had to leave the outdoor area of the festival grounds late Wednesday evening, local police said. They were able to continue celebrating inside the beer halls.

In Wetzlar, in Hesse, the storm damaged about 60 houses, according to the fire department. In some cases, pieces of roofing were blown as far as 100 meters (110 yards) away, dpa reported.

The German Weather Service warned that further severe storms could occur later in the day, particularly in Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria in southern Germany.

While the storms in Germany were accompanied by cooler temperatures, high temperatures continued to be recorded in southeastern Europe, and fires raged in some parts of the region.

In Serbia, a Russian firefighting plane joined efforts in Serbia on Thursday to fight wildfires that devastated a nature reserve in the northeast as the Balkan country faces a fresh heat wave in the coming days.

The Il-76 plane landed in Serbia on Wednesday evening, also illustrating continued friendly relations between the two countries despite Belgrade’s proclaimed intention to join the European Union.

The fire in Deliblatska Pescara, or Deliblato Sands, first erupted a month ago, but was under control until early August when it started spreading swiftly, engulfing thousands of acres of pine forests and shrubbery.

Several other big fires also have been raging in other parts of the country, as well as throughout the region in the past weeks. An extremely hot and dry summer this year has fueled wildfires throughout Europe, from Belgium to Greece.

Croatian firefighters from the popular tourism hot spot of Dubrovnik on Thursday joined a struggle to contain a fire across the border in Bosnia to prevent it from spreading toward the medieval walled city that is a UNESCO protected heritage site.

“It was a hard night,” regional firefighting unit commander Stjepan Simović told the Hina news agency. "The fire is huge and in an inaccessible terrain, so we have to be vigilant.”

Gec reported from Belgrade, Serbia.

A firefighter's helicopter battles a forest fire in Deliblatska Pescara (Deliblato Sands), near the village of Sumarak, 70 kilometers north-west of Belgrade, Serbia, Thursday, Aug. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

A Russian Il-76 firefighting plane battles a forest fire in Deliblatska Pescara (Deliblato Sands), near the village of Sumarak, 70 kilometers north-west of Belgrade, Serbia, Thursday, Aug. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

Severe damage is visible on several houses in Solms-Oberndorf, Germany, Thursday, Aug. 20, 2026, following a violent thunderstorm. (Boris Roessler/dpa via AP)

A section of a corrugated metal roof lies between vehicles in a parking lot in a residential area, following a storm in Fürstenwalde, Germany, Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2026. (Michael Ukas/dpa via AP)

Firefighters stand in front of damaged houses, following a storm in Wetzlar, Germany, Thursday, Aug. 20, 2026. (Florian Wiegand/dpa via AP)

Houses are seen severely damaged following a violent thunderstorm, in Höhr-Grenzhausen, Germany, Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2026. (Thomas Frey/dpa via AP)

A thundercloud is moving over Lich in the Giessen district of central Hesse, Germany, Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2026. (Alexander Wolf/onw-images/dpa via AP)

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde will resign nine months before the end of her term, a move that opens the way for European leaders to choose a successor ahead of France's presidential election next year.

Lagarde, 70, will leave Feb. 7, the ECB said Thursday. Her eight-year term was to end Oct. 31, 2027.

The resignation opens the way for complex political horse trading over her successor and replacements for two other top officials who are leaving next year. The ECB president leads the bank's governing council, which sets interest rates for the 21 countries that use the euro currency, affecting borrowing costs for everything from house purchases to new factories and serving as the European Union's chief crisis fighter in times of economic and financial turbulence.

“It has been a great pride and a huge privilege to serve this institution,” Lagarde said in a video message posted on X. “I think that I leave this institution with a sense of good work done and an ECB that is fit for the future.”

The announcement was expected following speculation that Lagarde would leave early to enable EU leaders to choose a successor while pro-EU French President Emmanuel Macron is still in office. That would guard against the possibility that right-wing presidential candidate Marine Le Pen might win the election and influence the choice.

“That she leaves early is no surprise and does not change the outlook for ECB policies,” said Holger Schmieding, chief economist at Berenberg bank.

European Council President Antonio Costa said that the selection process “will be initiated today and will proceed without delay.”

The term of another top ECB official — chief economist Philip Lane — is to end May 31, while another member of the ECB's executive board, Isabel Schnabel, is resigning Jan. 3 to move to the International Monetary Fund. European leaders are expected to work out a package deal to apportion the three vacancies among member countries in a complex round of political bargaining.

EU leaders would likely seek to reach agreement on all three posts before a summit meeting on Dec. 17-18, said Holger Schmieding, chief economist at Berenberg bank.

He said that leading candidates for Lagarde's job appeared to be former Netherlands central bank head Klaas Knot and Spain’s Pablo Hernandez de Cos, the general manager of the Bank for International Settlements. The BIS is an international organization of central banks.

“The European Union is trying to guard itself at least somewhat against the risk that right-wing Marine Le Pen may win the French presidential election in April-May 2027,” Schmieding wrote in an email. “Lagarde’s successor will still be appointed while the staunchly pro-European centrist Emmanuel Macron still resides in the Elysee Palace.”

Lagarde, the former head of the International Monetary Fund, was appointed in 2011 to succeed Mario Draghi. A key decision during her tenure came in 2020, when the bank deployed 1.35 trillion euros ($1.5 trillion) in emergency stimulus in the form of bond purchases to keep the COVID-19 pandemic from drying up credit for the economy.

The bank's ability to act swiftly — in contrast to the often drawn-out negotiations among the 27 European Union national governments — has given it a leading role in combating Europe-wide crises such as the pandemic and the peak period of the eurozone's debt crisis in 2010-2012. Most notably, Draghi's promise in 2012 to “do whatever it takes to preserve the euro” calmed bond market turmoil that raised fears the eurozone would break up.

Lagarde’s announcement overshadowed the bank’s decision Thursday to leave its interest rate benchmark unchanged at 2.5% despite annual inflation of 3.8% fed by high oil prices caused by the US-Iran war. High rates restrain inflation, which is above the bank’s target of 2%. However rising bond market rates are already tightening credit independent of the ECB, in effect doing the central bank’s job for it, analysts say.

Fog drifts by the European Central Bank on the occasion of the announcement of the resignation of European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde, in Frankfurt, Germany, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

Fog drifts by the European Central Bank, right, on the occasion of the announcement of the resignation of European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde, in Frankfurt, Germany, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

FILE - President of European Central Bank Christine Lagarde addresses the media during a press conference after an ECB's governing council meeting in Frankfurt, Germany, Thursday, June 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Michael Probst, File)