Tief Gudrun kept emergency forces busy

The striking cold front of the Deep Gudrun crossed Austria from west to east and caused partly stormy thunderstorms, stormy wind and then temporarily heavy rain for a turbulent Saturday afternoon and evening. Covered roofs, fallen trees and numerous firefighting operations were the consequences.

AUSTRIA. Initially, the storm front swept across the state of Tyrol, leaving damage there. While the sky was still blue in Innsbruck, there was already disaster in the sky in the lowlands. Ebbs was hit hard, an entire house was covered. The Tief Gudrun kept the fire departments on their toes: numerous trees fell, which sometimes blocked the motorway at Jenbach. Also in Jenbach, a tree fell on a 25kv power line from Tiwag, resulting in a forest fire. In Münster the roof of the church was affected, in Zirl that of a company building. In the afternoon, the winds at the Achensee caused the waves to rise, surfers were in distress, but according to the police, they were able to be rescued unharmed.

Lightning struck a fire

Storms and thunderstorms also left their mark on Upper Austria yesterday afternoon. Falling branches had to be cleared from the road in Bad Ischl, for example. More than 40 deployments by the volunteer fire departments were necessary to clear roads after the thunderstorm. Immediately afterwards, the Florianis had to pump out a cellar in Brandenbergweg due to the short but intense rain. A lightning strike in Ried im Traunkreis (Kirchdorf an der Krems district) set fire to the roof structure of a four-canter. According to the police, the farm owner and a neighbor did the first fire fighting. The farm owner was slightly injured by inhaling dry powder.

Roof “disintegrated”

In the city of Salzburg, the fire brigade moved out because of fallen trees. Flachgau and Tennengau were also affected. The fire brigade parish throw had to move due to a partially covered tin roof of an apartment block in the center of town. The assignment could only be ended after more than two hours.

Thunderstorms, heavy rain and gusts of wind caused 2,000 power outages in the district of Leoben, for example, and the fire brigades in the district of Liezen were also in large-scale use to solve problems and get fallen trees off the streets. House roofs were also covered. On the Loser, two hikers were in short supply. The foothills of the front were also felt in the provincial capital Graz. Then the thunderstorm weakened towards Vienna.

The first thunderstorms started in Vorarlberg in the early afternoon. According to the storm center, these then reached Salzburg or the Waldviertel in the evening.

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