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STORM

Storms kill six people and disrupt travel

UPDATE: At least six people died in western Germany on Monday night and Tuesday morning as storms ripped through the region. Emergency services have been called to 5,000 incidents and the bad weather is now heading to other parts of the country.

Published: 10 June 2014 11:28 CEST
Storms kill six people and disrupt travel
The remains of a collapsed roof in Neuss, North Rhine-Westphalia Photo: DPA

Two men, aged 56 and 53, and one women, 52, fleeing from the storm died while sheltering in a garden shed in Düsseldorf, when a poplar tree collapsed on the building on Monday evening.

Emergency services were able to rescue six others from building, two of whom were severely injured.

A 50-year old cyclist in Cologne and a second cyclist in Krefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia, also died when they were hit by falling trees. A sixth person, a 49-year-old man, collapsed and died as he was clearing up storm damage in Essen.

Heavy rain, lighting and hail also caused traffic delays on the railway, motorway and airports. Düsseldorf airport closed for an hour on Monday evening due to winds of up to 150 km/h.

CLICK HERE for the latest weather forecast

Rail operator Deutsche Bahn reported severe delays as fallen debris obstructed railway lines. Although several lines were cleared on Monday evening, many connections remained blocked on Tuesday morning, including lines around Dortmund, Essen, Düsseldorf, Gelsenkirchen, Duisburg and Cologne. Emergency bus transportation was not possible in some ares due to storm damage.

The storm headed northeast early Tuesday morning and lessened in magnitude.

New storm fronts are currently moving towards the Rhine, Ruhr and Black Forest areas, a spokesperson for the German Weather Service (DWD) said on Tuesday morning. Whether those storms will be as strong as those in North Rhine-Westphalia remains unclear.

More showery and thundery weather is forecast fro the north and west on Wednesday night.

CLICK HERE to see pictures of the damage

The storm front closes in near Düsseldorf on Monday night.

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WEATHER

More rain forecast as storms hit western Germany

Severe storms and heavy rain affected parts of Germany on Thursday, creating disruptions. More rain is forecast on Friday but weather warnings have been lifted.

Published: 3 May 2024 09:53 CEST
More rain forecast as storms hit western Germany

Major storms hit western Germany on Thursday, causing travel disruption and flooding. 

In parts of Baden-Württemberg, streets were flooded and rivers swelled. Bisingen, southwest of Tübingen, was particularly hard hit, with cellars and streets plunged under water.

Police said there was also traffic disruption. In Baden-Württemberg’s state capital Stuttgart, severe storms and lightning caused issues and some roads were closed.

A lightning strike in the Sigmaringen area resulted in a broken signal box on the railway line. According to Deutsche Bahn, no train journeys were possible in the region in the early evening with several delays and cancellations.

Other states were also affected.

There were around 300 relief operations in the Ahrweiler district in Rhineland-Palatinate, which was hit by the 2021 deadly flood disaster.

Police said no-on was injured, although basements and streets were flooded. The water levels of the Ahr were being closely monitored.

Emergency services in Bisingen on Thursday.

Emergency services in Bisingen on Thursday. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Silas Stein

In Trier, too, streets were flooded after heavy rain and there were hailstorms. The Koblenz police headquarters reported fallen trees. Significant property damage due to full cellars and flooded streets was also reported in some areas. 

Heavy showers also fell in Hesse, accompanied by thunder storms. In Frankfurt, according to the fire department, the heavy rain caused water to enter the Bethanien Hospital and even reach the intensive care unit of the clinic.

“We were able to contain the damage relatively quickly and prevent it from spreading,” said fire department spokesman Thorben Schemmel, adding that no patients were affected.

In Rhineland-Palatinate, the Eifel region was particularly affected, with reports of flooded streets after heavy rain and hailstorms.

North Rhine-Westphalia also saw storms late in the afternoon on Thursday. 

The German Weather Service (DWD) said it expected some heavy rain and hail in parts of the country on Friday – particularly in the west – and at the weekend but warnings of severe weather have been lifted. 

The DWD said there could still be one or two strong thunderstorms in the northeast on Friday. However, it will be a significantly quieter day compared to Thursday. Temperatures of up to 25C can be expected.

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