Severe storms

Fire departments in Lower Austria and Tyrol in continuous operation

In Hollabrunn, 50 fire departments were deployed.

(Bild: Stefan Obritzhauser)

Storms caused numerous fire department operations in Lower Austria and Tyrol on Friday. The district of Hollabrunn and St. Anton am Arlberg were badly affected. Dozens of fire departments were deployed there in the late evening. 

Several roads were closed, in some places the water was up to one meter high. The "Augustwiesn" in Hollabrunn was evacuated, the fire department reported in a press release. Train services also had to be suspended due to the flooding.

However, the levels of the Runzenbach and Göllersbach rivers in the Hollabrunn and Göllersdorf area continue to rise, the fire department added on Saturday night. The Hollabrunn substation was flooded, but the critical situation could be defused with the help of large pumps. Even the fire station was flooded. At the same time, there were several traffic accidents. A total of five people were injured.

Masses of water within a very short time
The situation in the Hollabrunn area came to a head at around 7 p.m. due to a severe local storm with over 80 millimetres of rainfall in a very short space of time, which is why the district command team was deployed.

Two disaster relief teams were alerted. Several roads in the Hollabrunn area were closed due to flooding. Heavily affected areas included the road near the paddock, the tennis hall and a facility for the disabled. 22 horses from an affected riding stable in the city area were rescued.

The grounds of the "Augustwiesn" event currently taking place in Hollabrunn were evacuated. The guests were accommodated in the town hall in cooperation with the fire department and the municipality. Roads were washed out, partially eroded and had to be closed. The clean-up work will continue for several days.

Flash floods and mudslides in Tyrol
Storms with heavy rain also led to mudslides on roads and local flooding in parts of the Landeck and Innsbruck-Land districts on Friday evening. St. Anton am Arlberg (Landeck district) was particularly affected, where some streets in the town center were flooded. A mudslide hit the Arlberg main road (B 197), which had to be closed on the Tyrolean side for the time being. The closure is expected to last several hours.

According to initial information, no one was injured. As the Arlberg tunnel is also currently closed for renovation work, both road connections on the Arlberg were therefore impassable for the time being. Vorarlberg was initially only accessible from Tyrol via the Lechtal valley.