In late May and early June 2016 flooding began after several days of heavy rain in Europe, mostly Germany and France, but also Austria, Belgium, Romania, Moldova, Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

Among others, the German states of Bavaria, Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate, Baden-Württemberg, and North Rhine-Westphalia were affected.

The towns of Triftern and Simbach on the river Inn faced severe flooding.

[16] On 2 June, it was confirmed that a fifth and a sixth person died in Bavaria: two men, aged 75 and 65, were found dead in Simbach.

81 people were injured at Rock am Ring festival, 15 of them seriously, after lightning struck the crowd on the evening of 3 June.

[18] Hundreds left the festival on 4 June, and it was temporarily interrupted for hours after thunderstorms were predicted, but continued in the evening.

[16] In the department of Loiret, six weeks worth of rain reportedly fell in three days.

Flooding in several regions of Belgium occurred in the wake of four days of torrential rain.

A 60-year-old man died between Harsin and Hargimont after being swept away by a river in an ill-fated attempt to move his beehives.

[7] In Welkenraedt, the body of an 80-year-old woman was found, after the Bayon stream overflooded its banks.

The interior ministry said 7,000 firefighters, police and others had been dispatched overnight Friday to help in flood rescue efforts.

The ministry said in a statement that a man died after a torrent of water knocked him off his bicycle in the eastern village of Ruginești.

[27] He said he has attended a meeting "so we can be vigilant regarding the rising water level, the peaks which might potentially involve more decisions" and noted that "what is happening now, especially in Paris and in some regions, is exceptional".

On the evening on 7 June a tornado accompanied by heavy thunderstorms caused severe damage in north eastern parts of the city of Hamburg.