In Hamburg, the fish market was flooded by a storm surge on Thursday morning. In the northern half of Germany, long-distance rail traffic was suspended until noon. There were power outages in Bavaria in particular.
Rail travelers in the north are affected by massive restrictions due to the current storm. In large parts of Germany, operations are severely restricted, a railway spokesman said in the morning: “In the northern half, there are no long-distance trains until midday.” This applies to Lower Saxony, Bremen, Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Berlin and Brandenburg. There are also cancellations and delays in regional traffic. I
flights cancelled
Restrictions have also been reported for air travel. In addition to the 20 cancellations that have already been announced, Lufthansa will not be canceling any other connections during the course of the day. This is still the state of affairs, said a company spokesman on Thursday morning. According to the operator, connections to Berlin, Munich and Hamburg are affected at the largest German airport in Frankfurt. Around a dozen flights are canceled at Hamburg Airport.
Flooded fish market in Hamburg
In the Hanseatic city, the fish market was flooded again in the morning. “A value of 1.98 meters above the mean high water level (MHW) was measured at around 5 a.m. at the St. Pauli level,” said a spokesman for the storm surge warning service of the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH) in Hamburg. On the North Sea coast, the BSH speaks of a storm surge from 1.5 meters above MHW. A severe or very severe storm surge is only spoken of from values of 2.5 or 3.5 meters. The Hamburg Tierpark Hagenbeck will remain closed on Thursday due to the risk of storms.
There was a storm surge in some places on the Schleswig-Holstein North Sea coast – in Husum, for example, a water level of 1.64 meters above the mean high water was measured. At many other gauges, however, the water levels remained below the level of a storm surge. The BSH also warned of increased water levels for the midday and afternoon floods on Thursday. The bridge from Stralsund to the Baltic Sea island of Rügen has been closed since night. According to the State Office for Road Construction and Transport in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the Rügen Bridge can only be reopened when the weather conditions have calmed down.
The fire brigades and police control centers reported numerous operations in many places early in the morning, but there was no major damage for the time being. The Berlin fire brigade declared a state of emergency.
The storm also left its mark in North Rhine-Westphalia. The tent of a corona test station was destroyed in Kleve on the Lower Rhine. In Wuppertal, a tree about 40 meters high fell on the rails of the suspension railway during the night. The fire brigade sawed the tree and cleared it away, a spokesman said. School lessons were also canceled throughout the state for Thursday. Schoolchildren are also allowed to stay at home in several regions of Lower Saxony or Bavaria because of the weather hazards.
Particularly stormy in the Harz Mountains
It was particularly stormy during the night on the exposed Brocken in the Harz Mountains. Peak wind speeds of up to 156 km/h were measured there shortly after midnight. In other parts of Germany, too, there were hurricane gusts and hurricane-like gusts in exposed locations such as mountain peaks.
In Bavaria, too, the storm triggered many police and fire brigade operations. The Free State was initially spared from major damage, as police spokesman said. Trees fell in some places. Many of them fell onto power lines, causing power outages. According to a spokesman, the largest electricity network operator in the Free State, Bayernwerk Netz, recorded 10,000 people affected. The German Weather Service warned of severe gusts of wind throughout Bavaria.
According to the DWD, the wind from low “Ylenia” will slowly decrease from Thursday afternoon. However, the breather should only be brief. The next hurricane – called “Zeynep” – is expected to come from the British Isles as early as Friday afternoon. According to the DWD, the northern half of Germany will probably be affected again.
At the end of January, the storm “Nadia” swept through northern and eastern Germany with dangerous gusts, causing millions in damage. According to the DWD meteorologist Andreas Friedrich, the current storms are comparable to the “Nadia” low in terms of wind peaks. From his point of view, however, the current situation is more explosive, “because we have a chain of storm lows”.
Police warn of “flying cows”
“Storm is when the sheep don’t have any more curls,” it is often said in East Friesland. The police in the extreme north-west of the German state of Lower Saxony warned of the dangers of hurricane “Ylenia” with another animal on Thursday.
“We have a bit of a wind in Oostfreesland. You have to drive carefully and be careful,” the officials wrote in Low German. What is meant is: It is storming in East Friesland and drivers should drive carefully.
When asked, a police spokeswoman gave the all-clear: “No, we haven’t had any cows flying around.” There have also been no injuries in the police inspection area as a result of the storm. The picture was only intended to illustrate the power of the storm in a humorous way.
Source: Nachrichten
