Mainz/Offenbach (dpa/lrs) – Hurricane low “Zeynep” has left its mark in Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland – but both countries survived the storm night comparatively lightly. According to the German Weather Service (DWD) on Saturday, the low and an advancing cold front caused hurricane gusts, especially in the Palatinate.
Wind speeds of up to 139 kilometers per hour were measured in the Weinbiet near Neustadt an der Weinstraße. At Dörrmoschel in the North Palatinate, the DWD registered a gust at a speed of 109 kilometers per hour. From 118 kilometers per hour, meteorologists speak of a hurricane gust.
The fire brigade of the state capital Mainz reported around 60 operations due to the storm on Saturday. In most cases, the firefighters had to go out to clear fallen branches and parts of the roof or broken trees. “Compared to the areas in northern Germany, Rheinhessen got off very lightly,” said a fire department spokesman.
According to the police in Frankenthal, a car was damaged by a fallen tree on a federal road in the north-east of the Palatinate. A brick fell on a parked vehicle in Kusel. Fallen trees were also reported to local police on several state and county roads.
In the district of Ahrweiler, a tractor driver and his passenger were slightly injured on the federal highway 267 near Dernau when an initially unknown object hit the windscreen due to gusts of wind. The disc splintered and the 72-year-old man and the 37-year-old woman were slightly injured by the flying splinters, as the Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler police station announced on Friday.
A spokesman for the service area of the police headquarters in Trier said that “a lot of trees” had fallen. In the Eifel near Daun, a tree fell on a man’s car; the 57-year-old driver was unharmed. The spokesman said that trees had also fallen in the high forest and on the Moselle. Nothing was initially known of major damage.
In the Palatinate, said a spokesman for the police in Kaiserslautern, there was initially no major property damage in the area. A tree fell on a power pole and a traffic sign against a car. Trees were also downed by the storm. The storm damaged a corona test station in Neustadt an der Weinstrasse.
In the Neuwied district, the authorities spoke of more than 50 operations for fire brigades, police and rescue services in the evening. In particular, it was downed trees, some with damage to vehicles or buildings.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:220219-99-200664/4
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