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Storm over Essen: heavy rain and thunderstorms
Photo: IMAGO/Gottfried Czepluch
After the severe weather warning from the German Weather Service (DWD), the first thunderstorms swept through Germany on Thursday.
One person was seriously injured in
a lightning strike on a cargo ship in
Duisburg .
A fire department spokesman said it was probably an employee on the ship.
He was on the freighter during the heavy storm in the afternoon.
The lightning struck the deck and seriously injured the man, the spokesman said.
As a result of the storm, fallen trees block railway lines on the
Lower Rhine
and in
Münsterland
.
A tree fell on the north-south main line
between
Düsseldorf and Leverkusen .
Hopefully part of the route will soon be able to be released there again, said a railway spokesman in the afternoon.
The disruption of the S-Bahn line 6 between
Düsseldorf and Cologne
, on the other hand, could take longer.
»The colleagues are trying to get the routes free again as quickly as possible.
Impairments in rush-hour traffic must still be expected," it said.
The storm also caused damage in the Eifel.
Due to the warning of heavy rain and gusty winds, all schools in the
Ahrweiler district
– which was hit by a flood disaster in 2021 – will remain closed on Friday.
According to the local district administration, there are no classes there.
The district in
Rhineland-Palatinate
strongly recommends that the sponsors of the other schools keep them closed as well.
Detailed information can therefore be obtained from the respective schools.
The district also appealed to all parents of daycare children to refrain from attending daycare on Friday and to look after the children at home.
The German Weather Service (DWD) had issued warnings of severe thunderstorms for large parts of North Rhine-Westphalia in the afternoon.
According to the DWD, the storm first reached the west of the Münsterland, the Ruhr area and the Rhineland.
In many places the sky suddenly darkened in the afternoon: it began to rain, thunder and lightning.
In the afternoon, the DWD issued further warnings of severe thunderstorms in counties in South Westphalia and East Westphalia-Lippe.
Accordingly, people would then have to expect hurricane-like gusts, hailstones and heavy rain throughout the state.
The Düsseldorf wildlife park and the Dortmund zoo closed in the afternoon.
According to the DWD, Germany is very likely to face an "extreme storm" with thunderstorms, hail and storms on Friday.
So-called supercells are likely to form as a result – rotating systems with strong updrafts that move completely independently and are therefore difficult to predict.
There are also “ideal conditions” for tornadoes.
ptz/dpa