The storm hit the communities in the northern Waldviertel at around 3 pm on Sunday. According to the fire department, around 80 percent of the buildings in Waldkirchen were damaged, some of them severely.

More than 250 firefighters were deployed to provisionally cover buildings with tarpaulins. Work continued even during another thunderstorm with heavy rain.

Damage assessment not yet available
A total of 55 properties have been secured with tarpaulins so far, 90 are still open. "In addition to private homes, the most affected are farm buildings, stables and public buildings such as municipal offices and fire stations," said the district command. According to the information provided, an exact damage assessment is not yet available. 

The state of Lower Austria has promised help from the disaster fund. "The most important thing is that no people were injured in these severe storms," emphasized Governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner (ÖVP). According to the provincial press service, she announced that the provincial government would be discussing relief measures for the affected communities as early as Tuesday.

Thunderstorms, rain and squalls in the west
However, the storm caused severe damage not only in Lower Austria, but also in the west of the country. Thunderstorms with heavy rain and squalls hit parts of Tyrol late on Sunday afternoon. 

The lowlands were particularly affected, especially the district of Kufstein. There were brief power outages for 8000 network customers in the municipalities of Kramsach, Radfeld, Brixlegg, Reith im Alpbachtal and Alpbach.

In Rattenberg, water even entered the town center. In Alpbach, a car was hit by a tree and the driver was injured.

One hundred transformer stations without power
Due to the storm, around 100 transformer stations in the Kufstein district were left without power at peak times, according to network operator Tinetz. By the evening, the majority of the outages had been rectified. The cause of the power cuts was apparently a heavy storm.

Smallest municipality almost "flooded"
However, Rattenberg, the smallest municipality in Austria, was apparently lucky. Because it almost "flooded". The cause was the widespread power failure.

"We are dependent on a pumping station with four pumps. The entire sewer system is connected to it. As the station failed due to the power cut and it rained so much, the water in the town quickly reached a height of 50 to 60 centimetres," explained Mayor Bernhard Freiberger. A catastrophe could only be prevented by the rapid action of the emergency services.

Residents cut off from the outside world
Meanwhile, a landslide occurred in the municipality of Eben am Achensee near an inn. The Achensee road (B 181) was mired over a length of around 35 meters and a height of four meters. The mudslide displaced the road and the road had to be completely closed in both directions. Several mudslides also occurred in Auffach in the municipality of Wildschönau (district of Kufstein).

According to the police, numerous local roads were blocked by fallen trees, meaning that several residents were cut off from the outside world for the duration of the clean-up operation.

There was also flooding, mudslides and power cuts in the province of Salzburg. Bischofshofen and Mühlbach/Hochkönig were affected.  

Rain at the start of the week too
But what does the weather look like at the start of the week? In the north and east, scattered showers will fall again in the afternoon, with longer sunny spells to be expected. In the south and west, it will be generally more cloudy, with localized heavy rain showers.

In Carinthia and Styria there will be brief thunderstorms. Afternoon temperatures 19 to 26 degrees, with the highest temperatures in Burgenland.

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