Floods
Land under water: Heavy rain in the Vorarlberg Rhine Valley
On Friday evening, a heavy thunderstorm cell unloaded over Vorarlberg and the Rhine Valley was particularly affected by heavy rain and hail. The emergency crews had their hands full.
Extreme rain led to around 300 firefighting operations in Vorarlberg on Friday evening. At around 6.30 pm, a thunderstorm front with heavy rain and hail moved across the country. The Rhine Valley was particularly affected, especially Lustenau. The rainfall was so heavy that trees buckled, roofs were covered and many streets were flooded due to blocked drains. Lightning struck a sailing boat.
Within a few minutes, over 30 liters of rain per square meter fell in many places. The rescue and fire department control center spoke of a "major event". Hailstones turned streets and meadows white, and as the rain continued, garages, cellars, underpasses and streets were submerged in water. Water ingress was also reported by the Kunsthaus Bregenz, which regretted possible material damage and remained closed over the weekend. The worst affected areas were the greater Bregenz area, Lustenau and the Rhine delta. But the fire departments were also busy in the south of the country, for example in Feldkirch. However, no injuries were reported.
Short but violent
As quickly as the violent storm had come, it was over again, explained a spokesman for the rescue and fire department control center on Saturday morning. The night had been calm and the number of call-outs could be "counted on one hand". The emergency services had mainly been kept busy with "classics" such as pumping out cellars, preventing water from entering residential areas, repairing storm damage and storm protection work.
In many municipalities, fallen trees caused obstructions or closures; in Lustenau, at least one building was hit by a tree. In some municipalities, streams burst their banks. According to ÖBB, the railroad line between Hard and St. Margrethen in neighboring Switzerland was closed until at least 10.10 p.m. due to an overhead line fault.
In the customs harbor in Hard, a boat caught fire shortly after 7 p.m. after a lightning strike to the mast. After the fire was extinguished, it was towed to a shipyard. The fuse distributor on land, to which the boat was connected, was destroyed by the overvoltage. Neighboring boats, which were also connected to the distributor, are likely to have suffered electrical damage.
In any case, the damage to the agricultural sector caused by the storm is likely to be considerable. Total damage in the "Ländle" is expected to amount to around 1.2 million euros, the Austrian hail insurance company announced on Saturday. In the districts of Dornbirn, Bregenz and Feldkirch, an agricultural area - mainly maize, potatoes and grassland - of more than 5,000 hectares was "literally devastated" in places.
Rhine forelands also under water
A peak discharge of around 1000 cubic meters of water per second was expected on the Rhine on Saturday morning. The protective dams on the Rhine are designed for 3000 cubic meters, which corresponds to a 100-year flood event. Nevertheless, the forelands on the Austrian side from Lustenau to the mouth of the Rhine have been closed. "The population is asked not to stay near the Rhine so as not to hinder the work of the emergency services. Also for reasons of personal safety, Rhine dams, foreland and especially the inner weirs should be avoided," it said.
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