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On Monday evening, a tornado hit the community of Großheide in East Frisia and left a trail of devastation.
According to the fire brigade, around 50 houses were damaged, five are not habitable for the time being.
The residents found alternative accommodation.
Fortunately, nobody was injured.
Manuel Goldenstein / Press spokesman for the Aurich fire brigade
»Here in the East Frisian area, it goes without saying that we always have wind and storms.
But we have never had a storm to this extent.
We are happy about it and almost speak of a miracle that there were no injuries. "
The people here really hadn't expected such a violent storm.
Andre Schönfeld, resident
»I was sitting in front of the television in the room and suddenly there was no television.
It got pretty loud then.
Then I looked out of the skylight upstairs.
Yes, and I could already see the trees flying away up here.
And just as I looked out, a roof tile came crashing into the window.
And yes, I could just jump to the side, otherwise the roof tile would have caught me too. "
Johann Graver, resident
»Yes, we suddenly heard a great storm, everything was whirling.
And suddenly I looked out the window and all I saw was the motorhome flying.
And that's when everything in our house crashed. "
Around 100 firefighters from across the county were on duty.
The storm covered roofs, tore away entire roof ridges and overturned vehicles.
Individual gas, water and power lines were also damaged by fallen trees.
Technicians were still on duty that night to secure the supply lines.
Roofers temporarily secured house roofs.
At first it was not clear whether the violent storm was really a tornado.
In the meantime, the German Meteorological Service has confirmed: It was a moderate tornado of magnitude F2 with estimated rotational speeds between 180 and 250 kilometers per hour - a rarity in Germany.
Eimo Schoof, resident
»Yesterday we stood behind the house with my son and we saw - he said to me: Look, Papa, how many clouds are flying there at once.
And then we were watching and watching and it got worse and worse.
And then we look over the trees and all of a sudden a huge amount of leaves shot away over the trees and he said: A tornado is coming.
I said: it can't.
And then we couldn't look back at all.
So fast.
And suddenly there is a bang everywhere.
The roof tiles flew off.
And then we saw the whole evil.
Everywhere the trees we lay flat, everywhere people were screaming and and and - something violent ... "
The clean-up work has been going on since Tuesday morning in order to repair the damage, which has been massive in some cases.
