On Friday, Geosphere Austria issued the highest warning level “red” for the upper Zillertal, while “orange” was still in effect in some parts of Tyrol. Trees snapped, roofs were covered – and power outages were also the result. According to police information, apart from the fatal accident in Landeck, no other serious accidents occurred as of Friday afternoon. However, by midday the fire brigades had to be deployed to around 100 missions, especially between Innsbruck and Jenbach and in the Wipptal. The main reason for the operations was fallen trees, which also resulted in short-term road closures. The Brenner railway line was closed in the morning because trees had fallen on the overhead line. A replacement rail service was set up for regional traffic to the Brenner. According to ÖBB route information, no long-distance journeys between Steinach am Brenner and Bozen were possible until 6 p.m.
But the foehn was also blowing very strongly in other federal states. 171 km/h were measured in the Hohe Tauern near the Rudolfshütte in Salzburg, 150 km/h at Semmering in Lower Austria. Geosphere reported on Friday that there were hurricane-like gusts of over 120 km/h, and in some cases well over 150 km/h, on many mountains. In the valleys, speeds of 60 to 80 km/h can be expected, in places even 100 km/h and above. Over 100 km/h were possible, especially in the classic foehn corridors, for example from the Wipptal in Tyrol to the valleys of the eastern Tauern, such as the Gasteinertal in Salzburg. There were over 100 km/h in the valleys with 124 km/h Schmirn in Tyrol, a side valley of Wipptal, 118 km/h Kolm Saigurn at the foot of the Sonnblick in Salzburg, 104 km/h Achenkirch (Tyrol) as well as in Salzburg’s Abtenau . At the Tyrolean Patscherkofel, 197 km/h was the fourth highest value recorded here since wind measurements began in 1977.
The strong foehn also kept the emergency services in Vorarlberg on their toes in the morning. The rescue and fire brigade control center (RFL) recorded 90 missions by the afternoon, which were mainly concentrated in the greater Feldkirch area. The emergency services removed broken trees from streets and power lines and roofs were covered. According to the media, in Rankweil (Feldkirch district), a forest kindergarten group had to be brought to safety because a tree fell next to the kindergarten. The group remained unharmed. Fire brigade operations were also reported from Salzburg and Carinthia.
According to Vorarlberger Energienetze GmbH, 15,000 households in Dornbirn were briefly without electricity, as were around 70 customers in Schoppernau (Bregenzerwald) and Satteins (Feldkirch district). There were also power outages in Carinthia. According to Kelag, 3,000 to 4,000 households were affected in the Mölltal, the upper Drautal, the Rosental and the Nockberge. According to the ÖAMTC, there were closures due to fallen trees on the Großglockner High Alpine Road (B107), Katschberg Road (B99) and Wurzenpass Road (B109) to the Slovenian border, among others. Relaxation was not expected until Saturday night.
There were also disruptions in train traffic. In Vorarlberg, the Feldkirch – Buchs railway line was interrupted when trees fell on the overhead line. The Bregenz-Lauterach route was also blocked due to storms, as was the Brenner route near Steinach in Tyrol. The work will last until the afternoon, an ÖBB spokesman said at lunchtime. A replacement rail service was set up for the affected routes. Passengers should expect further disruptions at any time until the foehn wind subsides.
There were significant disruptions to the power supply in the south of Salzburg in the afternoon. Up to 14,000 households were without power, and shortly after 4 p.m. there were still 12,500 households in Lungau (Turrach), Pinzgau (Uttendorf) and Pongau (Gasteinertal). In the Gastein healing tunnel, 200 guests were cut off from the outside world because the road to the tunnel was closed due to the storm.
The foehn strengthened throughout the day on Friday, peaked in the afternoon and was expected to gradually weaken in the evening. According to Geosphere, this is one of the strongest foehn events in recent years.
(SERVICE – Warnings for every municipality in Austria are freely accessible on )
