The ZAMG has forecast strong gusts of wind in the lowlands for today, Thursday. Peaks of 112 km/h were measured in Kremsmünster at an altitude of 390 meters early in the morning. That was just the beginning: at eleven o’clock, 120 km/h were registered in Enns, and at the Feuerkogel weather station it was even 167 km/h. The wind peaks in the morning were also in three figures in Wels, Rohrbach, Vöcklabruck, Wels, Hörsching and Wolfsegg. In the afternoon the storm gradually subsided, peak speeds of 99 km/h were measured in Rohrbach, 88 km/h in Kollerschlag and 87 km/h in Waizenkirchen.
As predicted by the meteorologists, the central region of Upper Austria was most affected in the morning. A dashing breeze was blowing at the airport in Hörsching at a speed of 106 km/h. The operation of Linz Airport in Hörsching is not restricted by the storm, as a spokeswoman said on request from nachrichten.at. “The Antonov 124 has just landed and the Frankfurt machine left as planned.”
Numerous firefighting operations
Upper Austria’s fire brigades have been on the storm since the early hours of the morning. As of 2:30 p.m., the storm had led to 560 deployments, according to the state fire brigade command. 229 fire brigades with a total of 3000 emergency services were on their feet. the The districts of Vöcklabruck, Gmunden, Urfahr-Umwelt, Wels-Land, Perg, Freistadt and Linz-Land were hit the hardest, with Braunau to a lesser extent.
fAlmost all other districts also suffered storm damage. Trees that have fallen on roads, overturned trucks, broken branches, damaged power lines and roofs, people stuck in elevators due to power outages: these are the operations that firefighters have dealt with.
In Sierning near Steyr, for example, a small truck was hit by a gust of wind and blown off the road. The driver had to be freed by the fire brigade using hydraulic rescue equipment. He was taken to a hospital.
Thousands of households without electricity
“Speak quickly, we’re having a power outage and I’m running low on battery power,” said Andreas Pechatschek from the Steyr public prosecutor’s office, which is located in the courthouse on Spitalskystrasse, on Thursday morning. At the Steyr volunteer fire brigade, nothing was known about a power failure: all systems would work, but there were always calls for branches that fell on power lines, it said when asked by nachrichten.at.
According to netzooe.at, up to 20,000 households in the districts of Linz-Land, Kirchdorf, Gmunden, Vöcklabruck, Rohrbach and Steyr-Land were or are without electricity in the morning. There were also problems with public transport. In the Mühlviertel, train services between Rottenegg and Aigen-Schlägl were suspended due to the weather. The closure of the Mühlkreisbahn lasted until 8 p.m., it said in the afternoon. Due to storm damage, no train ran between Summerau and Freistadt at noon. Train journeys were also not possible between Wels and Grünau. Rail replacement services have been set up on all routes.
roads blocked
Numerous roads were blocked by fallen trees or broken branches. The Passauerstraße in Pühret was completely blocked, the danger of falling trees was too high. Because of storm damage was also Sankt Florianer Stift Landesstraße near Ansfelden impassable in the afternoon.
It was also uncomfortable on the ski slopes on Thursday. The lift operation in Hinterstoder and on the Wurzeralm was only possible to a limited extent. The Kasberg ski area in the Almtal was completely closed, and there were no lifts on the Hochficht either.
Trees on the A1 near St. Valentin fell
Fire department spokesman Philipp Gutlederer reported on 50 operations in the Amstetten district alone. According to him, trees fell on the Westautobahn (A1) near St. Valentin. Asfinag and the local fire brigade were deployed on the Vienna-bound lane. At Haag in the direction of Salzburg, the tarpaulin of a truck had to be secured by local emergency services.
Video: OÖN editor Bernhard Leitner reports in front of the Haid fire station near Mauthausen. A truck was hit by a gust of wind and had to be recovered.
Video: Mühlviertel editor Thomas Fellhofer reports from the stormy Rohrbach on the local weather conditions
Pictures from the truck recovery in the district of Perg
View picture gallery
Lower Mühlviertel
The storm in the morning in the lower Mühlviertel caused fallen trees and minor property damage. The fire brigades in the Freistadt and Perg districts recorded 21 operations after storm damage, most of them between 9 and 10:30 a.m.
On the B123 between Mauthausen and Ried in der Riedmark, the fire brigade had to recover an overturned truck. “Shortly before entering Oberzirking, a gust of wind caught the vehicle and overturned it,” says Thomas Huber from the FF Haid near Mauthausen. The main road was closed for the duration of the rescue work. A local diversion has been set up.
Air turbulence over Linz
A vortex in the sky can be seen in a picture taken by an OÖN reader at eight o’clock on the Pöstlingberg. But a tornado in Upper Austria? Is there such a thing? “They are not that rare with us either,” said ZAMG. >> An archive report from July 2017
Almost 20 degrees in eastern Austria
On Thursday it was extremely mild in Austria, especially in Lower Austria, Vienna and Burgenland almost 20 degrees were reached in places. In Eisenstadt the thermometer climbed to 19.9 degrees. Just behind followed with 19.8 degrees Wiener Neustadt and Mattersburg. In downtown Vienna it was 18.2 degrees. However, temperature records for this month were not broken. They come with 24.2 degrees from February 28, 2019, measured in Güssing (Burgenland) and Deutschlandsberg (Styria).
The storm should abate everywhere on Friday night, the Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics (ZAMG) reported. The peak storm values on Thursday morning were 148.3 km/h fireball (Upper Austria), 145.8 km/h am Buchberg and 142.6 km/h am Semmering/Sonnwendstein (both Lower Austria) measured. On the Jubilee waiting in Vienna the wind peak managed to reach 127.1 km/h.
More than 100 km/h in the center of Vienna
In some low-lying places like Catfish/Schleißheim (Upper Austria), Langenlebarn (Lower Austria) and in the Vienna city center the storm brought it to just over 100 km/h. Very changeable, windy and mild weather can also be expected over the weekend.
From midday the gusts reach their peak, in the evening the wind decreases. “The Danube region and the Mühlviertel are most affected,” forecast meteorologist Alexander Ohms from ZAMG. Unnecessary car journeys are discouraged, and pedestrians should avoid parks and forests. The storm should abate everywhere on Friday night.
The mobility club ARBÖ gives tips for driving in a storm:
- Drive proactively and defensively. Unforeseen obstacles on the road must be expected today.
- Beware of pieces of paper and cardboard being thrown up, plastic sheeting and broken branches.
- Reduce vehicle speed to provide more stability in lateral gusts of wind.
- When exiting, carefully open the vehicle door and hold the handle. A gust of wind could rip open the door itself, damaging nearby or passing vehicles, or injuring pedestrians.
- Overtake on country roads only if you keep a large distance to the side. Sudden cross wind gusts can even move heavy vehicles such as trucks or buses by more than a meter.
- Strong gusts are to be expected, especially on bridges, at tunnel exits and forest aisles.
- Slippery roads, roof loads or superstructures increase the risk of the vehicle being torn apart in a storm.
- If you are traveling with a roof load or a trailer on stormy days, the load should be optimally distributed. The center of gravity should be as low as possible, the weight should be distributed over both vehicle axles.
- Ski racks and ski boxes should be removed when not in use.
- If you are caught by a gust of wind, the first thing to do is keep calm. Jerky movements of the steering wheel will only make the vehicle more unstable. To get the car back on track, you should steer in a controlled manner.
The article is continuously updated.
Source: Nachrichten
