Severe storms in Austria: community further isolated – "damage is enormous"
Created: 07/01/2022 05:17
By: Patrick Huljina
Heavy rainfall and hail have led to many mudslides in Carinthia.
The damage is enormous.
The day after, the clean-up work begins.
Many households without
electricity
: the full extent of the
storm disaster
is still unclear.
One
dead
after a mudslide: 82-year-old can only be recovered dead in meetings.
Severe
storms
in
Austria : the
civil defense
alarm was triggered in several communities in Carinthia
.
This news ticker about the
severe storms in Austria
is continuously updated.
Update from June 30, 3:47 p.m
.: After the devastating night of storms, the emergency services in the disaster area are working their way meter by meter.
According to the Carinthian police helicopter, it is in constant use.
Three army helicopters also fly at low altitudes.
The civil protection alarm in the storm region in Carinthia will initially remain in place.
The two communities Arriach and Treffen are particularly affected there.
Mud, boulders and rocks are everywhere.
Many roads have simply been torn away.
A temporary relief path was created by Arrich on Thursday, reports
MeinBezirk.at.
It is initially still unclear how many people in the region are stuck in their houses due to muddy streets.
On Wednesday, nine people were flown out by two families and taken to safety.
There is no electricity and also the water, the people are supplied from the air.
It is one of the worst disasters that Carinthia has ever experienced, said Governor of Carinthia Peter Kaiser (SPÖ) at a press conference on Thursday in Treffen.
Many people have lost everything.
The politicians have promised financial help.
Severe storms in Austria: community further isolated – "damage is enormous"
Update from June 30, 12:15 p.m .:
On Thursday, the clean-up work after the storm of the century in Carinthia will continue.
In meetings at the Ossiacher See, a man died in a mudslide.
According to ORF, the municipality of Arriach is still cut off from the outside world.
All access roads are impassable.
Hundreds of people are
still cut off from electricity and water supplies , according to
heute.at .
The helpers on site are in constant use.
However, one thing is already certain: “It will not be a sprint, but a marathon.
The clean-up work will take months," said Carinthia's civil protection officer, Daniel Fellner, the
courier
.
The clean-up work in the storm areas in Carinthia will probably take months.
© IMAGO/B&S/Bernd March
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While some of the storm victims in Carinthia are still stuck in their homes, storms and heavy rain have also caused damage in Upper Austria since Wednesday evening.
According to the APA news agency, several roofs were partly completely covered in the northern municipality of Freistadt.
According to the information, no one was injured.
According to the report, the fire brigade was mainly deployed in Linz and the surrounding area as well as in the nearby municipality of Perg because of flooded basements.
Many households without electricity: the extent of the disaster in Austria is not yet clear
Update from June 29, 9:42 p.m .:
Until the evening it was difficult to get an overview of the extent of the flooding, district captain Bernd Riepan told
ORF
.
"How many houses are affected can probably only be estimated tomorrow or even in the next few days.
However, what can already be said is that the damage is enormous.”
About ten to fifteen people were rescued from their muddy houses in Arriach with the help of the helicopter.
According to Riepan, one can only estimate how many people were stuck in the region overall.
Emergency quarters are currently not necessary.
The focus of the helpers is currently on making the main traffic connections passable again in order to bring drinking water to the people, says Riepan.
Numerous firefighters are helping to free the villages in the Villach-Land district from the damage.
© picture alliance/dpa/APA/Gert Eggenberger
According to the energy supplier Kelag, around 2,000 customer systems were still without electricity in the afternoon, the
ORF
continued.
District captain Riepan announced that Kelag fitters would be flown to the damaged areas on the network tomorrow, Thursday.
One dead after a mudslide: 82-year-old can only be recovered dead in meetings
Update from June 29, 2:49 p.m
.: Two helicopters and around 100 soldiers, including heavy equipment, are deployed in Carinthia.
Many roads are impassable due to debris and debris.
The municipality of Arriach in the Villach-Land district is currently cut off from the outside world.
A missing man (82) could only be found dead on Wednesday afternoon.
According to the ORF, there is still no trace of a missing driver who had reported himself to the state alarm and warning center around four o'clock.
In view of the destruction, the Austrian Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen spoke via Twitter.
He appealed to the population: "Take care of yourself and your fellow human beings.
Let's look at each other!"
Update from June 29, 1:36 p.m .:
A severe storm left a trail of devastation in the Austrian state of Carinthia.
After the civil protection alarm had already been called out in the communities of Treffen am Ossiach and Arriach due to landslides and raging streams, this warning level now also applies in Tamsweg in the Salzburg district.
According to the ORF, the Leißnitzbach is threatening to burst its banks there.
The population is asked to stay indoors, not to enter underground car parks and cellars and to keep away from banks and bridges.
Severe weather in Austria: civil defense alarm due to the risk of landslides and great danger from torrential streams
Arriach in the Villach-Land district
Meeting at the Ossiacher See
Tamsweg in the district of Salzburg
According to ORF, several trapped people have now been rescued by helicopter.
However, there is probably also a first death.
As
meinbezirk.at
reports, an 82-year-old could only be recovered dead in meetings.
The man had already been searched for several hours.
Further information was not initially known.
The damage in meetings at Ossiacher See is enormous.
© Gert Eggenberger/dpa
Severe storms in Austria: "Houses buried meters high with mud"
First report from June 29th:
Munich/Villach – In the night of Wednesday (June 29th) severe storms raged in the Austrian state of Carinthia.
Heavy rainfall and hail resulted in numerous mudslides.
Houses were partly buried up to the first floor.
The situation is unclear.
For the communities of Treffen am Ossiach and Arriach in the Villach-Land district, the civil defense alarm was even triggered.
According to ORF, 7,500 households around Villach and in the area were still without electricity on Wednesday morning.
"It's hard to imagine.
The houses are buried meters high with mud, cars have been torn away.
People are in shock," said water rescuer Michael Siter to the Austrian news portal
Kurier
.
He has been with the water rescue service for 20 years and has never experienced anything comparable.
So far it is unclear how many injuries there are.
"We have flown out seven people and a dog so far," reported Siter.
In Treffen am Ossiacher See, entire streets are covered with mud and flooding.
© Gert Eggenberger/dpa
According to the
courier
, the water rescuer was one of the emergency services that were flown to the affected areas by helicopter in the morning.
The other ways are "too dangerous" and "too muddy", according to the police.
There are also 24-hour nurses among the emergency services.
They should support people in need of care on site.
In addition, the fire brigade, mountain rescue, the army and search dogs are also deployed.
They are supposed to track down people who may have been buried.
Severe storms in Austria: civil defense alarm triggered - "hundred-year flood"
According to initial reports, the two communities of Treffen am Ossiach and Arriach in southern Austria were particularly hard hit.
A civil defense alert was raised for meetings at around 3:30 a.m., which later expanded to a civil defense alert.
According to the ORF, people were instructed to go to safety on the first floor of their houses and wait until the situation eased.
Due to the extreme rainfall, several streams burst their banks in various places.
Johannes Moser from the hydrological service spoke to the ORF of a "hundred-year flood".
Meeting Mayor Klaus Glanznig explained that a crisis team was set up.
Many roads are covered with mud and stones and are currently not passable.
Austria: Arriach cut off from the environment
A civil defense warning was also issued in the municipality of Arriach at 5:30 a.m., which was expanded to a civil defense alarm at around 6 a.m.
According to APA, Gerhard Hohenwarter from the Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics (ZAMG) said that in Arriach and other places in the region it had "rained as much in just a few hours as in an average June."
According to ORF, Arriach is currently cut off from the environment.
The army is trying to make its way through the buried streets.
Meanwhile, police helicopters carry out reconnaissance and evacuation flights.
District captain Bernd Riepan said there were also reports of missing people.
"We're trying to get an overview of the situation with the helicopter so that we can rescue people as quickly as possible," he said.
(ph)
