Dangerous ice!
Freezing rain on Monday morning turned many roads into dangerous landslides in Lower Saxony, Bremen and Hamburg.
According to the German Meteorological Service (DWD), the reason for the weather conditions was the slopes of the low “Franziska”. The corresponding precipitation area did not bring large amounts of water, but the rain was enough. Roads and sidewalks were as smooth as glass!
The result: Numerous road and footpath accidents in western Lower Saxony. The Osnabrück region in particular is affected by extreme weather conditions. Numerous emergency admissions to hospitals, patients with bone fractures, even serious ones.
According to a senior physician at a national trauma center, every fracture imaginable is represented, which is now being treated surgically. In the morning alone, at least 13 patients had to go to the operating room at his clinic to avoid consequential damage.
The DWD has temporarily issued a severe weather warning for parts of all federal states. At noon, the storm warning was still in effect for all eastern federal states, Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein. Additionally, the DWD advises that you avoid being outdoors as much as possible.
The falls mainly resulted in fractures of the lower limbs
The slippery conditions have also caused many traffic accidents!
▶ A27 near Walsrode-Hamwiede: One driver (25) dies early in the morning. According to the Langwedel highway police, he skidded off the road with his car. After the accident, the highway remains full until the morning, then half blocked.
▶ A7 between Kassel and Göttingen, shortly before the Drammetal junction: rear-end collision. It is not known whether people were injured. As reported by the Göttingen police, the motorway was temporarily closed after the accident. Now a section of the road is passable again.
More than 200 traffic accidents and falls occurred in Hamburg on Monday morning due to black ice
▶ A7 between Hanover and Hamburg near Bad Fallingbostel (Heidekreis district): motorway closure from 3:30 to 4:30 A driver had hit the trailer of a heavy truck due to weather conditions. There were no injuries, according to a spokesman for the Heidekreis Police Inspectorate.
▶ Similar images in the city and region of Hanover, in Bremen, Oldenburg, Braunschweig and Emsland.
Face-to-face classes have been canceled in many general and vocational school locations.
Cancellations were reported by the districts: Diepholz, Northeim, Celle, Hameln-Pyrmont, County Bentheim, Leer, Osterholz, Stade, Wittmund and Vechta as well as the cities of Delmenhorst, Hildesheim and Wolfsburg – also by the city and district of Osnabrück.
In the city and district of Göttingen, lessons have been suspended in all schools, with the exception of vocational schools. In the municipality of Bremerhaven, the first two lessons have been canceled in all public schools. Likewise in the municipality of Bremen, as reported by the police.
In the morning, a training and treatment center was set up in a gym in St. Pauli for injuries caused by today’s black ice
▶ In Hamburg, the fire brigade has set up a care center for the injured in a vocational school on Budapester Strasse in the St. Pauli district. According to BILD information, five people with minor injuries were treated here by noon.
The fire brigade of the Hanseatic city announced that by noon there had been more than 200 traffic accidents and falls on the mirror-smooth surfaces due to the black ice. A spokesperson: “All of our ambulances are in constant use.”
A lorry cannot go any further on the unsmoothed pavement of the frozen Landungsbrücken apron in Hamburg after it starts to slide
Meanwhile, the police have asked the population to regulate their speed while driving to avoid further accidents. According to a statement from the DWD, the black ice will last until noon in Lower Saxony and Bremen.
▶ Hospitals in Thuringia also registered more patients due to bad weather. At the Helios Klinikum in Erfurt, for example, the emergency room was full on Monday morning. 75% of patients came due to falls and fractures.
