In St. Andrä im Lavanttal in Carinthia, two children were killed by falling trees in a leisure area by the lake. A fallen tree also cost three lives in Gaming (Lower Austria). Major damage was caused to the infrastructure, the ÖBB stopped traffic in Carinthia, East Tyrol and Styria.
Tragedy in Carinthia
The two children, aged four and eight, come from the Wolfsberg district. 13 other people were injured, two of them seriously. District Governor Georg Fejan said at a press conference in the evening that five minors were among the injured. The crisis intervention team was deployed.
According to the water rescue service, such an elementary event has never been experienced in the area: lifeguards, who wanted to warn bathers about the sudden storm, were literally blown over, 50 centimeter high waves were recorded. And trees fell on the bath visitors.
The consequences were fatal: any help came too late for two local girls. The fire brigade and ambulance were deployed on a large scale, the Red Cross triggered a district alarm and also received support from the surrounding districts and from Klagenfurt. 13 wounded were taken to the hospitals, including two seriously injured. The area was closed by the public prosecutor’s office and is to be examined by an expert.
45 paramedics were also on duty, as were 71 members of the water rescue service, the police and five fire brigades, who freed two people who were trapped under trees. A prophylactic search operation in the lake – clothing had been found on the shore that could not be assigned to anyone at first – ended without a result.
But not only the parish of St. Andrä was badly affected by the storm. 34 fire brigades were deployed throughout the Lavanttal valley, many of them were still busy cleaning up in the evening. Trees that fell on roads and cars and broken power poles were also reported from the districts of St. Veit an der Glan, Völkermarkt and Feldkirchen. Up to 20,000 households were temporarily without electricity.
Also three dead in Lower Austria
In Gaming (Scheibbs district) three people were killed by a fallen tree on Thursday afternoon, according to the police, the accident happened in the Zellerrain Straße area. The investigations to clarify the identity of the victims were in progress, said chief inspector Johann Baumschlager of the APA.
Van der Bellen expressed his condolences to those affected
Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen expressed his sympathy on social media: “Parts of Carinthia and Styria were hit by severe storms and several people were seriously injured. It is an immeasurable tragedy that two children died in the storms. That makes me deeply saddened. My thoughts are with their families,” the president wrote. Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) spoke of a terrible stroke of fate for the families.
The reason for the standstill in the train connections was a large-scale failure of the 110 kV traction power supply for the Carinthia and Styria area. The duration of the interruption was not yet foreseeable, numerous passengers were stranded unexpectedly: trains on the route were taken to the next station, replacement traffic was only possible to a limited extent. ÖBB promised an emergency timetable.
75,000 households were without electricity
Numerous damage to power lines were reported, especially in Upper Styria and in northern East Styria. In the meantime, around 75,000 households were without electricity. In the evening, around a quarter of all Styrian transformer stations were out of order, according to Energie Steiermark Netze. According to Urs Harnik-Lauris, spokesman for Energie Steiermark, all forces were called into action and even fitters were brought into service from vacation. In addition to low-voltage lines, a high-voltage line is also affected: in Fisching near Zeltweg, a power pole of a 220 kV line connecting the Obersielach and Hessenberg substations was damaged.
Enormous damage
“The extent of the damage is enormous,” said Harnik-Lauris in the APA interview. Only the districts of Hartberg-Fürstenfeld and Southeast Styria were largely spared. In the past ten years there has been no such damage – especially not in such a large room. The extent can be compared to storm “Paula” in 2008.
The storm also hit the MotoGP in Spielberg. Numerous tents may have been destroyed or even blown away by the gusts of wind. The Murtal Tourist Association has set up a hotline for campers who do not have accommodation: 03577/26600.
The ZAMG reported wind peaks well over 100 kilometers per hour in the affected areas. As a general warning of such storms, the expert referred to the great momentum of weather events with “enormous acceleration”. Because of this and because the existing forecast models are not yet able to accurately assess the initial situation, there could be major deviations in extreme cases. Thunderstorm warnings would have generally existed for today. “But the thunderstorms veered away,” said the meteorologist.
From St. Andrä in the Lavanttal, the ZAMG reported peaks of 103 km/h, but there may well have been higher values at certain points, said a meteorologist on APA request. The storms moved from Carinthia towards Styria, where storm peaks of 139 kilometers per hour were registered near Neumarkt. In St. Pölten, the Frequency music festival was interrupted for security reasons, but later resumed operations.
Source: Nachrichten
