Some 45,000 residents of the German city of Koblenz will temporarily be evacuated on Sunday to be at a safe distance from an unexploded World War II British bomb that will be detonated by the army and police bomb disposal teams.

The bomb weighing 1,632 kilogrammes and packing 1,360 kilogrammes of explosives emerged near the bank of the Rhine River after its water level dropped due to lack of rain. It is submerged in 41 centimetres of water with a portion buried in mud.

A 125-kilo U.S. bomb and a German smoke grenade were also found near the massive bomb likely dropped by the British Royal Air Force during air raids of Koblenz at the end of World War II.

Officials said the bomb can create a crater 18 metres wide and about 5 metres deep when it explodes. Also, its detonation can destroy everything within a 64 metre radius and break windows within almost a kilometer radius.

Some 520 residents of a nursing home will be among those to be evacuated using 300 vehicles, including ambulances, according to the city's fire department. Around 200 people charged with various crimes will also be removed by bus from a jail. They will be transferred to other jails in the state, said jail spokeswoman Andrea Kästne, according to The Local.

Buses will take other residents away from the area at 9 a.m. on Sunday.

There have been 29 bombs found in Koblenz in the past 12 years and the latest was the biggest, Manfred Morschhäuser, of the city fire department told The Local.