The flood-damaged Königssee sliding track will be unuseable until at least October 2022 ©Facebook/International Luge Federation

The Königssee sliding track has been "destroyed" by the flooding that has claimed more than 150 lives in Germany and will not be operative for the whole of the Beijing Winter Olympic season.

Disturbing video footage showed the flagship sliding venue, which was due to host the 2022 International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF) Junior World Championships in January, overwhelmed by torrents of muddy water that left sections of the track broken and upturned amid rubble and twisted metal.

Andreas Trautvetter, IBSF vice-president and president of the German Bobsleigh, Luge and Skeleton Federation (BSD) told insidethegames: "The track in Königsee is destroyed and cannot be used in the season 2021/2022."

As well as the IBSF Junior World Championships, both the IBSF and International Luge Federation (FIL) World Cup circuits were set to visit Königssee in the coming season and will now need to find alternative venues.

Asked when he expected the venue – which hosted this year’s FIL World Championships and the IBSF World Championships for the sixth time in 2017 – would be restored to use, Trautvetter added: "I think, October 2022."

The FIL has said that it wishes "all residents and friends in Berchtesgaden-Königssee all the best" and hopes for an end to the rain soon.

Germany's three-time Olympic champion Felix Loch, who won three world titles at Königssee in 2016, said his "heart is broken" by the damage.

The track released a statement on the flooding but did not disclose any information about the scale of the damage.

"Thank you very much for your sympathy and good words of encouragement," it read.

"Our thoughts are with all those who have to suffer from the strong flood masses.

"As far as we are concerned, we will contact you tomorrow."

Located in Bavaria near Königssee - "the King’s Lake" - and the border with Austria, the facility was completed in 1968, when it became the first permanent, artificially refrigerated bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton track in the world.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday described the flooding that has devastated the area as "terrifying".

At least 157 have died in Germany and 188 in Europe as a whole, but with many people still unaccounted for, those figures are expected to rise.