Rainy transition from freezing to multi-degrees: Dangerous black ice hit large parts of Germany early in the week before Christmas.
Germany – Rainy transition from freezing to multi-degrees: Dangerous black ice hit large parts of Germany early in the week before Christmas. German weather service (DWD) has temporarily issued a severe weather warning for parts of all federal states.
In large parts of Germany, the mirror-smooth roads have caused major problems. © Markus Scholz/dpa
At noon, a storm warning was still in effect for all eastern federal states as well as Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein. Roads and railways may be impassable in some places. The approach of rain leads to a serious danger of black ice on frozen ground. As a precaution, classes have been canceled in many schools, parks, zoos and Christmas markets have been closed and hundreds of traffic accidents have occurred.
The DWD advised avoiding being outdoors as much as possible. Anyone who has to be out and about in their car on Mondays should adapt their driving style on the road. In addition, the DWD advised motorists to fill up on fuel tanks and bring blankets and hot drinks with them.
A 25-year-old died on the A27 near Walsrode (Lower Saxony) at around 3:30 in the morning. His car went off the road because it was slippery, broke through the guardrail and crashed into a tree. In the Hanover region, in the district of Peine and in the city of Bremen, there have been numerous slippery accidents during rush hour traffic. In Saxony-Anhalt, two cars slid into the wall of a house in Gerbstedt, while in Eisleben a public transport bus crashed into a car.
16 people were injured in a bus crash on a slippery road in Dreieich near Offenbach near Frankfurt. The bus went off the road Monday morning on black ice and hit a tree. The bus driver and 15 passengers aged between 15 and 50 suffered minor injuries and bruises.
Interruptions in airport operations, trains have to travel more slowly
Due to the freezing temperatures, even the trains couldn’t go as fast as usual. © Bodo Schackow/dpa
In the area of the Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund (RMV), bus services have been partially stopped completely. In Frankfurt, all bus, subway and tram lines are affected, announced the transport company VGF.
At Germany’s largest airport in Frankfurt, trials have gotten out of rhythm. According to an airport spokesman, about 190 of the approximately 1,100 takeoffs and landings scheduled for Monday were canceled by noon.
Die Deutsche Bahn temporarily lowered the maximum speed of their trains due to freezing rain and icing. The Harzer Schmalspurbahnen (HSB) stopped the train service between Schierke and the Brocken for the whole of Monday due to bad weather.
In Munich a tram jumped off the rails due to weather conditions. Firefighters also used muscle power to drive the tram back onto the tracks.
Academic failure in the individual federal states
Here in Hamburg, by the way, the streets are completely frozen. © Bodo Marks/dpa
In Thuringia, a spokeswoman for the situation center said there had been a high number of accidents across the country. In Bavaria, it was especially quiet in Franconia: according to the police, a number of pedestrians slipped in Nuremberg. According to the fire brigade, reports of people falling in Berlin increased on Monday afternoon.
University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) reported in the afternoon that there had already been more than 60 trauma patients after black ice accidents involving pedestrians or cyclists.
In various districts and cities of Lower Saxony and also in Bremen, face-to-face tuition in schools has been cancelled. In Osnabrück and in the Wolfenbüttel district, the garbage collectors stayed in the courtyard in the morning.
Black ice and storms also caused accidents overnight in the most populous federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia. In Meinerzhagen (Märkischer Kreis), the driver of a spreader was slightly injured when he overturned. In Kierspe, also in the Märkisches Kreis, a driver slipped while getting off after hitting a wheelie bin with his car.
In North Rhine-Westphalia, on the other hand, the situation relaxed again from 5 a.m., for example in the Ruhr area, so that many commuters did not notice the black ice.
