Two dead by hurricane "Zeynep": railway traffic greatly reduced
Created: 2/19/2022Updated: 2/19/2022 3:57 p.m
Herbert Reul, Interior Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia.
© Federico Gambarini/dpa/archive image
The hurricane "Zeynep" swept across NRW on Friday evening and on Saturday night.
According to preliminary findings, two people died as a result.
On Saturday, rail traffic resumed slowly.
According to the current status, two people died in North Rhine-Westphalia as a result of the hurricane "Zeynep".
In the district of Steinfurt near Altenberge, a tree fell on a car on federal highway 54, killing the 56-year-old driver.
In Hopsten, also in the Steinfurt district, a 17-year-old driver left the road, possibly because he avoided a branch.
His passenger, the same age, died.
Another person was life-threateningly injured by the hurricane, five others suffered serious injuries, Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU) announced on Saturday.
The storm led to almost 300 traffic accidents.
The fire brigade deployed more than 12,000 times by Saturday noon.
"My thoughts are with the relatives of the victims of the accident and I wish them a lot of strength," said Reul.
NRW Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU) thanked the emergency services.
"North Rhine-Westphalia was shaken by a storm for the second time this week last night and in the early morning hours," said the head of government on Saturday at a party event of the NRW-CDU in Essen.
"I thank the emergency services who go out in all weathers when nobody wants to go out, who come when we need help."
Several sections of the highway had to be temporarily closed due to the storm.
Rail traffic was largely canceled and only slowly got going again on Saturday.
There are "continued massive impairments," said a railway spokesman in Berlin.
Long-distance trains could not yet run in large parts of NRW.
A railway spokeswoman in Düsseldorf said that there are still major restrictions in regional transport, but many lines were able to resume operations during the day.
In Wuppertal, the suspension railway was initially unable to operate on Saturday due to storm damage.
Apparently, technical components were damaged in the storm, the municipal utilities said.
The problems were fixed in the afternoon.
In Brilon in Sauerland, a car crashed into a tree on Friday evening during the storm.
The driver was locked in his vehicle.
The 26-year-old from Bad Wünnenberg was freed from his vehicle by the fire brigade with hydraulic rescue equipment and taken to the hospital with serious injuries, as the fire brigade announced.
The storm also damaged the historic town hall in Brilon: due to the strong gusts of wind, a copper cover on the baroque gables was torn off.
In the Lichtenau district of Kleinenberg in the Paderborn district, a minibus with seven occupants had to stop on Friday evening when a tree blocked the way on a closed route.
When the occupants wanted to get off, a tree crashed onto the bus and buried it, police said.
Firefighters had to rescue the trapped people, two of whom were slightly injured, from the minibus.
"The vehicle was flattened to the level of the door handles," police said.
In the district of Borken alone, around 1000 emergency services from the fire brigade and technical aid organization were deployed.
In addition to uprooted trees, the helpers also had to take care of building roofs that were torn off by the storm.
The Emmerich Rhine bridge, which carries federal highway 220 across the Rhine, had to be closed.
The reason was fallen scaffolding parts that protruded into the roadway.
In Essen, a man was hit on the head by a falling roof tile on Friday evening and was seriously injured.
After being treated by an emergency doctor, the patient was taken to a clinic, a fire department spokesman said on Saturday.
Overall, there were around 200 storm-related operations in the Essen city area.
A tree fell on an apartment building in the Altendorf district, nobody was injured.
The tenants did not have to leave the building.
In Altenessen, a larger tarpaulin came loose and buried some parked vehicles.
In Dortmund, a café guest was slightly injured by a falling tree.
A large cross fell from a church tower onto a car.
Nobody got hurt.
In the state capital of Düsseldorf, the fire brigade control center recorded 320 weather-related operations by Saturday morning.
In Grevenbroich, a construction fence was blown over by the storm while passers-by walked past it.
They were unharmed, according to the fire department.
Parts of the facade of a shopping center in the city center were torn from their anchorage.
The area has been secured.
Roofs were taken off, roof tiles blown onto the street.
A tree fell on a street in Minden on Friday evening.
Two cars couldn't brake in time and crashed into it.
A 52-year-old driver was slightly injured.
more on the subject
Calm after the hurricane - but not for long
Many injured and damage from storm: freighter in distress
Driver dies near Teterow: three dead in a series of accidents
In Bedburg-Hau in the district of Kleve, the flat roof of an apartment building was demolished.
Parts of the roof damaged vehicles parked in front of the house.
The storm tore off parts of the roof structure with a photovoltaic system on a warehouse.
Even in the early morning there were still emergency situations.
In Mettmann, a 20 meter high tree fell on a car.
Fortunately, the four occupants were able to get out of the car, which was destroyed in the front area, unharmed.
The weather is not expected to calm down for the time being.
"As early as Sunday, the series of storms will pick up speed again as the next storm "Antonia" approaches," said a spokeswoman for the weather forecast center of the German Weather Service.
Monday is still stormy.
dpa