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STORM

7 people killed by storm Xavier, rail travellers told to expect further disruptions

After a powerful storm which killed at least seven people blasted across northern Germany on Thursday, rail transport will continue to be disrupted on Friday.

Published: 6 October 2017 08:47 CEST
Updated: 6 October 2017 14:24 CEST
7 people killed by storm Xavier, rail travellers told to expect further disruptions
Travellers at Alexanderplatz U-Bahn station in Berlin on Thursday. Photo: DPA.

The vast majority of long-distance trains in north and northeastern Germany had been cancelled until further notice on Friday morning.

Rail routes between Hanover and Berlin, Hamburg and Berlin, Hamburg and Hanover, and Hamburg and Kiel are closed.

One day after hurricane-force winds swept through the north of the country, cancellations on main rail routes are likely to cause considerable delays and long waiting times for commuters and long-distance travellers on Friday.

A Deutsche Bahn spokesman warned on Friday that the temporary suspension of trains in north and northeast Germany could also have an impact on the national railway network. They have also assured customers that tickets that were not used on Thursday are still valid on Friday.

Many rail travellers expressed their frustration on Thursday, as they were left stranded at railway stations, with Deustche Bahn providing no alternative means of transport.

Storm Xavier killed at least seven people in Germany, five of them in their vehicles, on Thursday. Berlin, Brandenburg, Hamburg and Mecklenburg-West Pomerania were particularly badly affected by the storm and the consequences of fallen trees.

A fallen tree on Kurfürstendamm in west Berlin. Photo: DPA

A woman in Hamburg was killed on Thursday when a tree blown over by hurricane-force winds fell on top of her car. In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania a truck driver died when a tree hit his vehicle as he drove down a state road.

The most tragedies were suffered in Brandenburg, where four people lost their lives. In Berlin a woman was killed by a falling tree in the Tegel area, while several other people were seriously injured.

According to Bild, the woman killed in Berlin was Dr. Sylke Tempel, a political expert at the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP), who had just left a meeting at the Foreign Ministry.

While public transport in Hamburg is slowly returning to normal, a Deutsche Bahn spokesperson advised commuters in Berlin who normally travel with the S-Bahn to switch to other means of transport.

“The entire network in the region is massively restricted. We have numerous trees on the tracks, damaged overhead lines and broken masts,” a Deutsche Bahn spokesperson said on Friday, stating that the repairs would probably take all day.

“We couldn't repair all the overhead lines and rail infrastructure at night,” he added.

The S-Bahn was completely shut down running on Thursday because of the storm.

Long-distance travellers will likely not be able to travel on routes today which had been closed last night, according to the spokesperson.

Deutsche Bahn advises travellers throughout Germany to use their app to find out about cancellations and delays.

CLIMATE CRISIS

Record heat deaths and floods: How Germany is being hit by climate change

Germany was further confronted with extreme weather conditions and their consequences last year. With this summer likely to break records again, a new report shows the impact climate change is having.

Published: 22 April 2024 11:28 CEST
Record heat deaths and floods: How Germany is being hit by climate change

In 2023, more days of extremely high temperatures were recorded than at any time since records began, the European climate change service Copernicus and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) wrote in a joint report published on Monday. 

The records go back to 1940 and sometimes even further.

“2023 has been a complex and multifaceted year in terms of climate hazards in Europe,” said Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) Director Carlo Buontempo. “We have witnessed widespread flooding, but also extreme forest fires with high temperatures and severe droughts.” 

These events have put a strain on natural ecosystems, and have also challenged agriculture, water management and public health.

According to the report, around 1.6 million people were affected by floods last year, and more than half a million people were affected by storms. The weather- and climate-related damage is estimated at well over 10 billion euros. “Unfortunately, these numbers are unlikely to decrease in the near future,” Buontempo said, referring to ongoing human-caused climate change.

Heat turns deadly, even in Germany

Averaged across Europe, 11 months of above-average warmth were recorded last year, with September being the warmest since records began in 1940. 

A record number of days with so-called extreme heat stress, i.e. perceived temperatures of over 46C, was also registered. 

As a result of higher temperatures, the number of heat-related deaths has risen by an average of 30 percent over the past 20 years.

According to the Robert Koch Institute, at least 3,100 deaths in Germany were linked to heat in the first nine months of 2023.

“In some cases, for example heat stroke, heat exposure leads directly to death, while in most cases it is the combination of heat exposure and pre-existing conditions that leads to death,” RKI explained in a statement, adding that women tend to be affected more than men due to higher proportion of women in older age groups.

In Germany temperatures above 30C are considered a heatwave. As weather patterns change due to human-caused climate change, heat waves have increased in number and length.

READ ALSO: How German cities are adapting to rising temperatures

Historically Germany hasn’t faced so many severe heatwaves each year, and central air conditioning is not commonly found in the country. In cities across the Bundesrepublik, heat plans are being drafted and refined to try and prepare for further extreme heat events in the near future.

Delivery van stuck in flood

A delivery van stranded in flood water during a storm surge near the fish market in Hamburg last winter. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Bodo Marks
 

Warming oceans and mountains and more rain

On average, the seas around Europe’s coasts were warmer than at any time since at least 1980. 

READ ALSO: Colder winters and refugees – How changing ocean currents could impact Germany

It was also much too warm on the glaciers in 2023. “After the record ice loss in 2022, it was another exceptional year of loss in the Alps,” Copernicus and WMO wrote. In these two years, the glaciers in the Alps lost around 10 percent of their volume.

Interestingly, the excess meltwater may be boosting hydroelectricity production in the short term. According to the report, conditions for the production of green electricity in 2023 were very favourable, with its share of the total electricity mix at 43 percent, the highest seen so far.

Overall, seven percent more rain fell last year than average. It was one of the wettest years on record, the report said. 

In one third of the river network in Europe, water volumes have been recorded that exceeded the flood threshold. There were severe floods in Italy and Greece, among other places, and parts of northern Germany were affected at the end of the year.

Hamburg and the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein were among regions hardest hit by floods in Germany last year. Northern sections of the Elbe river rose high enough to submerge Hamburg’s fish market several times among other places.

READ ALSO: Germany hit by floods as October heat turns into icy spell

2024 likely to continue breaking heat records

The recent report by Copernicus and the World Meteorological Organization is in agreement with a UN report published last month, which noted that last year came at the end of “the warmest 10-year period on record” according to the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO).

“There is a high probability that 2024 will again break the record of 2023”, WMO climate monitoring chief Omar Baddour said, according to Science Alert.

Another year of record breaking high temperatures means Germany can likely expect more and longer heatwaves in the late spring, summer and early autumn seasons. Higher average temperatures are also correlated with an increase in extreme weather events like extreme storms and floods in parts of the country.

In drier parts of Europe it means an increase in droughts and wildfires.

With reporting by DPA.

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