A flood wave destroyed the Austrian city of Hallein near Salzburg at the weekend.
Recordings show the daring rescue operation of a local resident.
Hallein / Austria - "Of course you have to make such a decision quickly and I just ran off", Alexander Eisenmann tells the Austrian broadcaster "Kronenhit".
Eisenmann is the hero of the hour in Hallein near Salzburg.
He saved two people from the torrential floods that rushed through the 22,000-inhabitant town on Saturday.
While bad storms hit Germany and Austria, the actually quiet Kothbach rose sharply due to the heavy rains.
After a car got stuck in the creek, a flood wave crashed through the old town of Hallein at unexpected speed on Saturday evening.
Videos of the water masses soon made the rounds on social media.
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Flood in Austria: On Saturday the old town of Hallein was suddenly flooded.
© screenshot: Twitter / Netrus
The hero of Hallein - video shows dramatic rescue from flood wave in the Salzburger Land
In one of the most-clicked pictures, a couple from Hallein can be seen being hit by the floods.
"Within five minutes the water was half a meter high, we couldn't hold ourselves!" Said those affected in an interview with the Bild newspaper.
Both lose their footing and seem lost.
But Eisenmann, the neighbor of the two, is made aware of the events by his son.
“Dad, someone is drifting away!” Full of adrenaline, he plunges into the water and manages to drift to a neighboring farm with the couple.
During the rescue operation, he only sustained abrasions on his lower leg, Eisenmann continues in a television interview.
The three were lucky.
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- Faruk Firat (@ FarukFirat1987) July 18, 2021
In the old town of Hallein, the floods caused damage amounting to millions.
The flood situation remained tense across Austria on Sunday.
Similar to the nearby Berchtesgadener Land in Bavaria, as well as in the disaster areas in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate, the first clean-up work can slowly begin.
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