In Salzburg, the roof of the fortress flew, in Carinthia towns are still cut off. On Thursday it should rain again.

Weather Disaster In Austria

After the massive storm, which has raged especially in Salzburg, Carinthia and East Tyrol, followed by a (partial) relaxation and the great cleanup. Forces are busy with cleanup, the Federal Government announces “quick and unbureaucratic help” – without elaborating them – and Chancellor Sebastian Kurz announced that he wants to get a picture of the situation in Carinthia with Environment Minister Elisabeth Köstinger.

Huge storm, which crossed the Alps from Italy, has left a trail of devastation. In Salzburg, a strong gust of wind has blown parts of the roof of the Hohensalzburg Fortress. The damage amounts to several hundreds of thousands of euros, according to the castle administration. Parts of the badger also landed on the route of the Reißzuges. For the time being, the fortress is closed, it is busy making it weatherproof, after all, the next rain is announced for Thursday.

Tens of thousands of households were partially without electricity, as trees were tipped on lines and transformer stations, especially in Styria, in East Tyrol, but also in southern Lower Austria.

While the situation in East Tyrol eased somewhat on Tuesday, many towns in Carinthia were cut off. According to the ZAMG (Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics), the south of the country has received as much rain in the last few days as Vienna did in a whole year. Carinthia in particular, but South and East Tyrol were also badly affected. The peak value of up to 600 liters per square meter was measured.

Due to numerous mud sliding 17 Carinthian villages in the Drava and Mölltal were not available on Tuesday. The Lesachtal and Upper Mölltal were still in the editorial deadline, still not available. Almost 1,000 firefighters were on duty in Salzburg alone. There were about 200 missions there due to flooding, mudflows, covered buildings, and blocked roads.

In Upper Austria, there were about 190 firefighting missions, especially in the lake area in the south. There were about 80 missions in Lower Austria, more than 40 in Vorarlberg. In addition to roadblocks, there were also massive disruptions in rail traffic, such as on the Brenner line in Tyrol, on the southern railway line on Semmering and on the Arlbergbahnstrecke. In the Drau valley, the train had stopped operating, track systems were flooded. Wiener Städtische Versicherung anticipates losses of five million euros due to the storm. The province of Tyrol alone speaks of damage “that goes into the millions”.

It is announced of intermediate to high level of rain on Wednesday, and on Thursday low level of rain in south and southwest of Italy is to be expected.

Sources: Die Presse