Sauerland, Black Forest, Swabian Alb: Winter sports fans storm across Germany in the middle of the Corona lockdown toboggan runs, ski lifts and hiking trails.
Local authorities seem helplessly overwhelmed.
Coronavirus pandemic in Germany
: Due to the high number of
Covid 19 cases, there
is a
hard lockdown
in Germany until at least January 10th
.
Despite the
Corona
restrictions,
many winter sports fans storm
toboggan runs, ski lifts and hiking trails
- from the
Black Forest
, across the
Swabian Alb
and the
Taunus
to
Winterberg in North Rhine-Westphalia
.
The local authorities seem
overwhelmed
with maintaining the
Covid-19
protective measures
.
Munich / Winterberg - parts of the
Swabian Alb
south of
Stuttgart
, areas of the
Black Forest
in
Baden-Württemberg
, the
Taunus
northwest of
Frankfurt am Main
and
Winterberg in the Sauerland (NRW)
have one thing in common in the days around
Christmas
and before
New Year's Eve 2020
: winter sports Fans literally storm the snow-covered winter sports areas and low mountain ranges - and that in the middle of
Germany's tough Corona lockdown
.
The result: On December 27th and 28th, local authorities across the Federal Republic seemed downright helpless because of the onslaught from the metropolitan regions and cities on their own doorstep.
The situation in and around the
Black Forest
and in
Winterberg
in
North Rhine-Westphalia was
particularly confusing and chaotic at that time
.
An overview:
Coronavirus pandemic in Germany: traffic jam in front of Winterberg, excessive demands in the Sauerland
Winterberg im Sauerland (North Rhine-Westphalia)
: The instructions and requests of the authorities on December 28th were tough.
“The streets around
#Winterberg
are overcrowded.
There are significant traffic jams and very long waiting times.
You are legally allowed to visit them in the ski areas.
You have to decide for yourself whether it is right and sensible at the present time, ”wrote the NRW police on Twitter.
The streets around #Winterberg are overcrowded.
There are significant traffic jams and very long waiting times.
You are legally allowed to visit them in the ski areas.
You have to decide for yourself whether it is right and sensible at the present time.
- Police NRW HSK (@polizei_nrw_hsk) December 28, 2020
On the same day, the
city of
Winterberg
literally begged Facebook to refrain from traveling: “The traffic situation is already extremely acute again.
Even today we can only ask everyone who is on their way or is already on the way to us to refrain from traveling.
All parking spaces are exhausted, the streets are congested! "
Until January 10th, due to the
Corona restrictions
, the
toboggan
lifts
and
ski lifts are
closed, the (actual) tourism site further informed: "Tobogganing on the lifts is not allowed, even if many do it." From the drastic request
wa.de
reports to the tourists
. *
+
December 28th, Winterberg in the Sauerland: A long traffic jam has formed at the access to the ski and winter sports area.
© Screenshot Facebook@Winterberg.de
Coronavirus pandemic in Germany: Winter excursionists from the Frankfurt area flock to the Taunus
Taunus (Hessen)
:
Pictures of overcrowded
toboggan runs
were
also taken on the
Großer Feldberg
(around 50 kilometers northwest of
Frankfurt am Main
)
.
Obviously, families and their children in particular wanted to
take
a break from the
tough corona lockdown
.
"What else should you do in these times?", A citizen from Raunheim (20 kilometers south of Frankfurt) told the
Frankfurter Rundschau *
.
The situation on the
Großer Feldberg in Hesse
is not quite as extreme as elsewhere in
Germany
, but since December 26th an extended blockage of the access roads has been in effect here due to the rush.
Coronavirus lockdown in Germany: Chaotic scenes and corona violations in the Black Forest
Black Forest (Baden-Wuerttemberg)
: Over the
Christmas holidays
and afterwards there was a real traffic chaos in some places because of the storm of winter excursionists, and rescue workers are said to have been hindered, reports the dpa
.
For example, the
municipality of Dobel
in
the Calw district was
completely overcrowded, and according to the report, hundreds of people flocked to go tobogganing and / or hiking.
The parking lots were overcrowded and traffic jams formed.
According to the police, more than 180 parking offenders received a fine.
The driveways have meanwhile been closed to non-locals.
Dobel's mayor Christoph Schaack announced that access roads would be rigorously closed in the coming days.
As a spokesman for the
Offenburg police
explained, for example, there was also
“chaotic conditions” when parking
at the
Mummelsee
excursion destination
.
There were so many cars standing along the Black Forest High Road (B500) that the
police
and rescue workers could hardly get through.
Also
on Kandel near Freiburg
, citizens had police officers with loudspeakers in parking lots for maintaining the
corona minimum distance
calling.
Coronavirus lockdown: State government of Baden-Württemberg refers to Corona regulation
Swabian Alb (Baden-Wuerttemberg)
:
Many day-trippers have also flocked
to the Alb plateau near
Reutlingen
(around 116,000 inhabitants) in recent days.
According to the regional police, the
Roßberg ski area near Sonnenbühl
, for example, was
jam-packed
around 60 kilometers south of the state capital
Stuttgart
, and the same applied to other hiking parking spaces in the area.
"Some of the existing driving bans were ignored, warning beacons were bypassed," said the police report.
In one case, the ambulance service barely got through to a woman who had an accident in a sled and who was temporarily unresponsive.
The Baden-Württemberg state government appealed urgently to its citizens about the incidents and warned them to
urgently observe
the
corona exit
restrictions.
"A tightening of the
Corona regulation
is currently not planned especially for the upcoming long (holiday) weekend," said a spokesman for the Ministry of Health in
Stuttgart
on Monday (December 28): "We appeal to people to go on day trips renounce and do not
exhaust
the existing rules. ”(
pm
)
* fr.de and wa.de are part of the Germany-wide Ippen-Digital editorial network