School cancellations in Lower Saxony: hurricane alarm – districts react to storms

Created: 02/16/2022, 18:48

By: Johannes Nuss

Lessons at the Paulus School in Oldenburg could also be canceled on Thursday.

(Archive image) © Paulus School Oldenburg/dpa

It's getting uncomfortable in Lower Saxony: there is a hurricane alarm in northern Germany on Thursday night.

Many districts are reacting by canceling schools.

Hanover/Bremen – Deep Vera has put Lower Saxony, Bremen and the rest of northern Germany in a stranglehold and hurricane alarm since Wednesday afternoon.

Hurricane gusts with speeds of up to 140 kilometers per hour are expected.

In the meantime, the second hurricane is brewing, which will hit northern Germany by the weekend.

The authorities urgently advise those who do not absolutely have to leave the house to only step outside the front door in the coming days for things that are really necessary.

According to the weather service, it will remain stormy and dangerous until the weekend.

School cancellations in Lower Saxony: Schools in the state are allowed to close on Thursday due to the hurricane alarm

The schools were also called on to be particularly vigilant on Wednesday afternoon by the Ministry of Education in Lower Saxony.

If the weather conditions make it necessary on Thursday morning, classes at schools in the country could be cancelled.

"The respective districts are responsible for student transport and usually only make the decision in the early morning of the respective school day as to whether lessons can take place or not," says the Ministry of Education in Hanover.

Exact information would then be announced immediately via the well-known regional radio stations together with the traffic information after the news.

Some districts post these notices on their homepage or offer a service via SMS notification.

Another source of information is the Internet: the Lower Saxony Traffic Management Center provides up-to-date and reliable information at www.vmz-niedersachsen.de.

If the safety of student transport can no longer be guaranteed, the cancellation of lessons is always ordered.

This is to prevent schoolchildren from attempting to reach the school independently or with their parents despite dangerous situations.

Hurricane alarm in Lower Saxony: Some districts are already reacting to the storm Vera with school cancellations

In the districts of Osnabrück, Goslar and Holzminden, among others, school cancellations due to the hurricane alarm have already been confirmed in some Lower Saxony districts, according to the NDR.

There will also be no classes in Emden on Thursday, city spokeswoman Theda Eilers announced late Thursday afternoon.

However, care for children and young people in schools will be ensured, the city and district of Osnabrück assured.

At the same time, the authorities are calling on all parents to leave their children at home if possible.

This brings back memories of the black ice last year, when districts in Lower Saxony also responded by canceling schools.

• There will be no classes at general and vocational schools on Thursday, February 17, 2022

  in

  the following districts and cities

  : Aurich, Emsland, Friesland, Leer, Wittmund, Osnabrück, County of Bentheim, Göttingen, Goslar, Hameln-Pyrmont, Holzminden, Peine , in the region and city of Hanover as well as in the cities of Osnabrück and Emden.

• In

  Wilhelmshaven, at least the general schools will remain closed on Thursday, February 17, 2022

  .

  The BBS Wilhelmshaven is not affected by the closure, the school is switching to distance learning on Thursday.

• In principle, however, the following applies:

  Parents can decide for themselves whether they want their offspring to walk to school on Thursday, February 17, 2022

  .

  In any case, care for the pupils is provided in the schools.

  (jon)

Second storm low: After the hurricane alarm, “Zeynep” follows “Vera” from Friday and Saturday – north probably badly affected

While the storm is expected to level off slightly early Thursday morning, the wind speeds will pick up again in northern Germany in the morning.

The DWD said the weather conditions had a “considerable potential for damage” because they lasted so long.

According to the meteorologists, storm "Ylenia" will be followed by a second with "Zeynep": Its course is still difficult to predict because it is a so-called fast runner.

Rail traffic: metronom, enno and erixx are gradually discontinuing the operation of regional trains on Thursday night due to the hurricane alarm

The North will likely be hit the hardest.

According to the weather experts, the potential is probably greater than the first storm low.

Deutsche Bahn is already preparing for possible train cancellations and delays on Thursday.

The operators of metronom, enno and erixx have announced that they will gradually stop operating their regional trains on Thursday night until further notice.

Hurricane over Lower Saxony: Bremen also canceled classes on Thursday

In principle, parents who fear that extreme weather conditions will put their children at risk on the way to school can keep their children at home or pick them up early from class if no general cancellation of classes has been ordered.

Important: Despite the cancellation of classes, all schools guarantee care for students who cannot stay at home and therefore come to school.

While it is not yet clear in Hamburg due to the hurricane whether there will be a school failure*, the schools in the state of Bremen will definitely remain closed, as education department spokeswoman Maike Wiedwald confirmed to kreiszeitung.de.

The schools would switch to distance learning, but care in the facility would be granted in any case.

However, school buses will not run.

The first thing that happened on Wednesday morning was NRW and announced that classes would be canceled across the country on Thursday *.

*' kreiszeitung.de and merkur.de are offered by IPPEN.MEDIA.

+++ The text was updated on February 15, 2022 at around 6:27 p.m.

+++