The weather in Germany is getting uncomfortable. Storm “Ignatz” causes damage and hindrances.
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+++ 1:55 p.m.: The Germany-wide gusts of wind are now also affecting the long-distance traffic of Deutsche Bahn in the south-east of the country. After rail traffic in NRW was restarted, trains are now canceled in three federal states. In Thuringia, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt, rail traffic has been suspended until further notice, announced Deutsche Bahn. In Thuringia, the top speed was initially reduced to 80 kilometers per hour. The Deutsche Bahn points out that due to the weather conditions there are delays and train cancellations nationwide.
Storm “Ignatz” triggers a tornado – Federal Office warns of storm surges
+++ 1:05 p.m.: In Kiel, a tornado caused severe damage in Schwentinental on Thursday morning. A fire department head of operations reports having seen the trunk of the cyclone himself. The storm left a “path of devastation” about 100 meters wide. Several houses were badly damaged, writes the German press agency. Trees fell and cars were buried under them. In addition, garden houses, winter gardens and greenhouses were destroyed.
+++ 11:50 a.m.: The Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency warns of storm surges on the North Sea and in the Weser and Elbe regions. The afternoon and evening floods will occur on Thursday on the North Sea coast one to 1.50 meters and in the Weser and Elbe areas about 1.50 meters above the mean flood, according to the storm surge warning. There is a risk of storm surge until 6.10 p.m. on Thursday evening.
Storm low “Ignatz” blocked Deutsche Bahn: After NRW – other federal states affected by failures
Hurricane low “Ignatz” continues to cause chaos for both Deutsche Bahn. After long-distance traffic in North Rhine-Westphalia has been completely discontinued, the Saarland, Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate, Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria and parts of Saxony are now also. Train drivers have to expect train cancellations and delays. “Hundreds of employees are working to clear trees and other obstacles from the tracks, to repair overhead lines and to record damage,” said a spokeswoman for the railway. Customers should find out about their connections online, the railway company asks on twitter.
In North Rhine-Westphalia, in addition to the failure of Deutsche Bahn, there are also restrictions on several highways *, reports wa.de. Some sections of the route were closed due to strong gusts of wind.
+++ 10:45 am: The storm “Ignatz” is also raging in North Rhine-Westphalia. This has an impact on rail traffic. As the Deutsche Bahn announced at 10.15 a.m., all long-distance connections in NRW will be canceled until further notice. “As a result, there are currently no travel options by long-distance traffic from / to NRW in the direction of Hamburg, Hanover, Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe and Frankfurt / Main. The ICE trains from / to Amsterdam and from / to Brussels are completely canceled, ”it said on the Deutsche Bahn website.
“Ignatz” is raging in Berlin: the fire brigade declares a state of emergency
+++ 10.35 a.m.: The Berlin fire brigade declared a state of emergency on Thursday morning. As the German Press Agency reports, there have been a total of 49 weather-related missions in Berlin since 8 a.m. In the course of Thursday, the German Weather Service (DWD) expected gusts of wind at a speed of up to 85 kilometers per hour for Berlin and Brandenburg. With the declaration of a state of emergency, emergency calls are now processed in Berlin according to priority where people are in danger.
Because of the storm “Ignatz”, the DWD had already warned explicitly on Wednesday of falling branches on Thursday and Friday. The Ferwehr once again called for balconies and terraces to be kept free.
Strum “Ignatz” tears down the power line: A5 fully blocked
+++ 10:05 am: Storm low “Ignatz” sweeps over Germany and leaves the first traces. The A5 Heidelberg-Darmstadt motorway had to be closed in both directions in the morning between Hemsbach and Heppenheim due to storm damage. As reported by the Hessenschau, the storm had damaged a power line there. The broken power line fell onto the street and hit a truck. So far, there is no information about the injured.
In addition, sections of the road are repeatedly blocked by uprooted trees. Drivers can use the parallel A67.
“Ignatz” sweeps over Germany: German weather service warns of heavy gusts of wind
First report from Thursday, October 21, 2021, 7:10 am: Offenbach – The storm “Ignatz” started its march over Germany early on Thursday morning (October 21, 2021). The first strong autumn storm of the year brought strong gusts in many places, sometimes also thunderstorms and rain. In the course of Thursday (October 21, 2021), the German Weather Service (DWD) expected heavy gusts of wind and sometimes hurricane-like gusts of up to 105 kilometers per hour in a strip across the middle to the east and northeast of Germany. In the mountains there could even be hurricane gusts of up to 120 kilometers per hour.
The police situation centers initially had no major damage reports; Occasionally the wind tore up trees, but nothing worse happened, according to Thuringia and Baden-Württemberg. In Delmenhorst, Lower Saxony, a man was hit by a falling branch on Wednesday evening (October 20, 2021), but was only slightly injured, the police said.
Storm Ignatz: Deutsche Bahn warns of train cancellations
Deutsche Bahn warned of possible train cancellations or delays due to the storm. However, in the morning there were still no reports of actual disruptions in rail traffic.
In the northern half of Germany, the weather service warned of thunderstorms moving eastwards, in which hurricane-like gusts could blow at up to 105 kilometers per hour. “Short-lived tornadoes” are not excluded, it said.
In Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland, the storm triggered many fire and police operations in the morning and at night. “The fire brigade and road maintenance department had their hands full,” a spokesman for the police in Trier told the dpa on Thursday morning (October 21, 2021). In his presidium alone, there have been 65 missions in the past hours due to the storm. Most of the time there was only minor damage to property. In Rhineland-Palatinate, there were several traffic accidents because of branches, trees or garbage cans on the street. According to various police stations, people were not injured. (marv / dpa)
Storm “Ignatz” also left its first damage in Frankfurt *. A tram line is affected. * fnp.de, fr.de and wa.de are offers from IPPEN.MEDIA.
