Devastating storm

Chairs, tables and tents flew around

In Urfahr, large parts of a roof were swept away. Miraculously, no one was injured.

(Bild: FF Pöstlngberg)

On Saturday evening, a devastating storm swept across Upper Austria and covered several roofs. Four children were injured in the wind chaos at the Knights' Festival in Linz, one mother and her child even seriously. The "Krone" spoke to an eyewitness about those terrible minutes.

The storm suddenly turned the city center of Linz into pure chaos on Saturday evening: "Chairs and tables flew around, as did tents and pavilions," says an exhibitor at the Knights' Festival who wishes to remain anonymous.

Tree fell over
The biggest disaster took place at Tummelplatz, where parts of a large tree fell over at around 8.30 pm, hitting several people. A mother (41) and her nine-year-old daughter from Kremsmünster were particularly badly affected: they lay unconscious on the ground. Passers-by, including a doctor, immediately provided first aid before an emergency doctor took over and took the two to hospital. Four other people were also injured in the incident, including three children aged eight, ten and twelve.

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Scope not recognized?
"We were already informed that something could come in the evening," says the exhibitor at the Knights' Festival. However, the sudden storm took everyone by surprise: "I don't think the organizers were aware of the consequences."

The organizers of the event, the Family Association, let it be known that no performance was taking place at the time of the accident and another was cancelled. The treetop had broken off from an adjacent private property and: "We hope for the health of all those affected."

The gusts of wind are also likely to have taken other organizers by surprise, as the organizers of the Rainbow Parade, which was taking place at the same time, only packed up when the storm was already approaching, as the organizer told the "Krone": "30 people got to work and stowed everything away so that no damage was caused."

2500 Florianis in action
The other results of the devastating night of storms with gusts of more than 100 km/h: several roofs were covered in Linz and a parked vehicle was destroyed by a tree at a festival site in Kirchdorf an der Krems. Throughout the province, 175 fire departments with around 2,500 firefighters were involved in around 200 operations.

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Über den Hausverstand

In Salzburg, the Electric Love Festival campsite was evacuated at lunchtime, while an event at the Sandburg in Linz was canceled hours in advance. The reason: concerns about the predicted thunderstorms and gales. Why the Linz Knights' Festival was not ended early for safety reasons will probably remain a secret for the organizers.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV, Alexander Schwarzl, Markus Wenzel)

But perhaps the whole thing simply shows that people sometimes leave their common sense at home and throw warnings to the wind, following the motto: "Nothing will happen".

However, on Saturday, nature once again showed us very impressively and painfully just how powerful and destructive it is. And that we as humans should perhaps be a little more humble and cautious.