Freiburg (dpa / lsw) – Snowfall and dangerous black ice have triggered chaotic conditions in the southwest. There have been hundreds of traffic accidents on roads across the country, with property damage and people injured, authorities said on Wednesday.
It looked especially bad in southern Baden: As the clinics were overcrowded due to the many accidents, the rescuers set up a treatment center in the Freiburg exhibition hall. Up to 15 wounded could be treated there at the same time and transported further, as announced by the Red Cross. About 70 helpers from humanitarian organizations were deployed there. According to a spokeswoman, the emergency department of the BG clinic in Tübingen was also working at full capacity.
The city reported that there were around 250 fatalities on the streets of Freiburg in the late afternoon alone. Two buses and a blasting vehicle were also involved, police said. The overall scale is extraordinary, a police spokesman said.
The city of Freiburg has blocked off much of the tourist-frequented Münsterplatz and main shopping street in the old town due to the mirror-smooth streets. A city spokesman said it was very slippery, especially on the pavement. The cleaning department of the city is spreading intensely since the early hours of the morning. “But with persistent weather – freezing and non-thawing rain – the smoothness cannot be faced everywhere and continuously,” reads a statement from the Black Forest metropolis. “The salt doesn’t hold”, said an employee of the “Badische Zeitung”, “the surface is too uneven and the salt immediately drips into the joints”.
It also crashed in other regions. More than 100 incidents occurred in the area of the police headquarters in Pforzheim in the afternoon. “There was a lot of property damage and personal injury,” police said. According to the police, 59 slippery accidents occurred in the district of Ludwigsburg on Wednesday morning. The Stuttgart Presidium reported about 40 road accidents with a total of 8 minor injuries. “In addition, there were significant traffic jams due to broken down vehicles.”
The German Weather Service (DWD) has issued an official thick black ice storm warning in parts of Baden-Württemberg. “The rainfall is so heavy that the ice sheet is growing in a way that is predicting icy conditions,” said a DWD meteorologist. For the high altitudes of the southern Black Forest, gale-force winds of up to 80 kilometers per hour have been experienced. There is also fog.
The inhabitants of Baden-Württemberg will have to be prepared for the risk of slipping due to the weather conditions in the coming days. There was a widespread danger of freezing rain on Thursday night, especially in the Swabian Alb and the Black Forest, said a meteorologist from the Stuttgart DWD. “That means black ice.” The drizzling rain can also freeze in some places in the north of the country. “Actually, you should be careful everywhere.”
The weather pattern will shift east on Thursday, the expert said. “So we have a higher pressure influence on the menu.” On Friday the next minimum will arrive from the southwest, and during the night it will snow heavily on the southern slope. Up to two inches of new snow is expected. According to the forecasts, the snowfall will decrease slowly during the day and the lows will continue. The weekend should be sunny with temperatures around minus.
There was real ice armor on Wednesday, especially in the south, for example on cars due to the frost. “These types of weather patterns aren’t great,” the meteorologist said. “It belongs to winter.” However, he admitted that there hadn’t been so much freezing rain in Baden-Württemberg for a long time.
Relatively mild temperatures will follow the onset of winter next week: The German weather service expects maximum values of up to plus ten degrees in the Freiburg area as early as Monday. “There may be a couple of twelves in the Upper Rhine Graben on Tuesday.” But don’t give up hope for a white Christmas.
Meanwhile, the Baden-Baden fire brigade has advised citizens to take extra care when entering icy surfaces. “Children are particularly at risk. They easily overestimate the fact that the ice cover is still too thin. Even if the ice looks solid close to shore, it can feel different a few meters further on. If the ice breaks off, they will inevitably fall into the water The result is life-threatening hypothermia.”
According to the fire brigade, the ice must be at least 15 centimeters thick. Stepping on ice that has dark spots or cracks is life-threatening. Crowds of people like ice skating are just as life threatening due to the risk of overload. If the ice crackles and cracks, has cracks or if water gushes onto the surface, the ice surface must not be walked on.
Forestry Minister Peter Hauk (CDU) said the risk of branches breaking and falling under the load is increasing. This is a significant danger to forest visitors. “Also, forest paths can become icy and very slippery or blocked by fallen trees. Therefore, these forest areas should be avoided at all costs for the time being until the snow has melted from the tree limbs and conditions are safe. of the path will not be restored.”
© dpa-infocom, dpa:221214-99-899226/6
