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Hurricane low: "Zeynep" hits large parts of Germany with force

2022-02-19T05:27:47.489Z


At least eight people died in Germany and other countries as a result of the hurricane Zeynep. An all-clear is not in sight – it should remain stormy until Monday.


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Waves crash over quay walls in Bremerhaven

Photo: Michael Bahlo / dpa

The hurricane Zeynep still has Europe under control: at least eight people have died since Friday.

Hundreds of thousands of households had no electricity, and there was destruction in many places.

According to the police, a driver died on Friday evening near Altenberge in North Rhine-Westphalia when he crashed his car into a tree lying across the road.

The trapped 56-year-old died at the scene of the accident.

At about the same time, a man was driving his car in nearby Saerbeck when the vehicle overturned, according to the police.

The 33-year-old also died at the scene of the accident.

The cause of this accident was initially unclear, the car was probably hit by a gust of wind, said a spokesman for the fire department in the evening.

If confirmed, he would be the ninth victim of the hurricane.

In the Netherlands, three people were killed by falling trees, including a cyclist.

Britain also reported three fatalities.

In London, the highest red warning level was declared for the first time.

In Ireland, a man died as a result of the hurricane.

At least eleven people were injured in France.

In the north of the country around 130,000 households were without electricity in the evening.

"Zeynep" also hit Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein.

However, the low probably did less damage than feared.

Fire brigades and police reported numerous operations by Saturday morning, but initially it was mostly property damage and fallen trees.

During the evening, the German Weather Service measured wind forces between 9 and 11 in Kiel, Hamburg, Sylt and Helgoland, and a hurricane gust of 143.3 kilometers per hour was recorded in Büsum.

The DWD corrected the height of the storm surge expected in Hamburg early on Saturday morning upwards.

Instead of a severe storm surge with water levels of up to three meters, up to 3.5 meters must now be expected, which corresponds to a very severe storm surge, the weather service said on Saturday.

In Bremen, a parcel of land in the Pauliner Marsch had to be evacuated because of an expected flood, a police spokeswoman said on Friday evening.

"It's been years since we had to take such a measure." According to a police spokesman, it only became noticeably quieter on the coast in the Aurich and Leer areas of Lower Saxony from 3 a.m.

A spokesman for the fire brigade there counted a total of almost 500 missions by three o'clock.

In North Rhine-Westphalia, the Emmerich Rhine bridge is closed until further notice.

The reason for this are fallen scaffolding parts that protrude into the roadway, the police said early on Saturday morning.

It should remain stormy at least until Monday, according to the DWD.

"It just won't calm down," said one meteorologist.

"Zeynep" or "Eunice" is the second strong storm low over Germany and other European countries within a few days.

It was only on Wednesday and Thursday that the low "Ylenia" triggered large-scale failures in train traffic and thousands of fire brigade deployments during its train over Germany.

"Ylenia" also led to deaths and injuries in Germany and other countries.

as /dpa/AFP

Source: spiegel

All life articles on 2022-02-19

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