The next flood threatens

Destruction and devastation: Austria under water

Emergency services are working at full speed throughout Austria to repair the storm damage.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/APA/EXPA/ JFK, Gregor Brandl, zoom.tirol, APA/FF MAUTERN/STEFAN RIEMELMOSER)

Houses buried by mudslides, closed roads, flooded cellars and washed away cars: the storms of the past few days have created a state of emergency across Austria. Emergency services are busy clearing up around the clock. But is the next chaos already approaching? 

Numerous shocking images of flooding are currently circulating through Austria. From west to east - hardly anyone has been spared from the heavy rain. Clean-up work is in full swing in the affected regions. After Vorarlberg, Tyrol and Lower Austria in particular were badly affected by the weather chaos over the past few days, the federal capital was also hit on Saturday evening.

Cars were washed away by the masses of water in Lower Austria.

(Bild: APA/EINSATZDOKU)

In Tyrol, numerous garages and cellars were flooded.

(Bild: zoom.tirol)

Woman pushed under bus by masses of water
People had to be rescued from their cars, roads became rivers and numerous cellars are no longer accessible. One woman was even pushed under a bus by the masses of water.

The Viennese district of Döbling was hit particularly hard. Several underpasses were flooded there.

(Bild: Brandl Gregor/Krone KREATIV)

The professional fire department has been in action since Saturday afternoon.

(Bild: APA/Stadt Wien/Berufsfeuerwehr Wien)

By Sunday morning, around 550 operations had been reported in Vienna, and cellars and garages are still being pumped out. According to spokesperson Lukas Schauer, the Vienna Fire Brigade is still in close contact with the weather services on Sunday. The situation is being monitored and the emergency services are of course ready to help again.

In Vienna-Döbling, 110 liters of rain per square meter fell - the highest summer value in the 152-year history of measurements at the Hohe Warte.

There were also several mudslides in the Kaprun region of Salzburg on Saturday. Mayor Domenik David even described the situation as "very critical". The fire department had to clear traffic routes, pump out flooded buildings and divert various streams back into the riverbed. There were several landslides on the Schaufelberg, and access to the reservoirs and the glacier lift was closed.

Two houses on the Schaufelberg (Salzburg) are currently cut off from the outside world.

(Bild: APA/EXPA/ JFK)

Several mudslides on Salzburg's roads

(Bild: APA/EXPA/ JFK)

The storm also caused one serious injury: a mudslide buried a house in Zell am See. The resident was caught up in the masses of debris.

Civil defense warning in Mautern
A thunderstorm cell also caused heavy rainfall, flooding and a civil protection warning in Mautern in Upper Styria (Leoben district) on Saturday evening. 

A civil defense warning was issued in Mautern. The situation will be assessed in more detail on Sunday.

(Bild: APA/FF MAUTERN/STEFAN RIEMELMOSER)

On Sunday, experts from the fields of geology, protective water management and landslide slope stabilization will inspect the damage in Mautern. The exact extent of the damage could be known by Sunday evening.

Clean-up work continues in Lower Austria
After Hollabrunn (Lower Austria) was declared a disaster area on Friday, heavy rain fell there again on Saturday. The clean-up has been continuing since Sunday morning. In Hollabrunn, several fire departments were still busy with cleaning work. Helpers were also deployed in the district of Neunkirchen, where heavy rain had caused flooding on Saturday. Following storms, the fire department was also deployed in the Amstetten district on Sunday night to pump out cellars and remove trees from roads.

Hollabrunn has been a disaster area since Friday.

(Bild: APA/STEFAN OBRITZHAUSER)

Concerns about the next storm chaos
The clean-up work after the mudslides and flash floods in St. Anton am Arlberg in Tyrol is still in full swing. Work and excavation continued throughout the night - and on Sunday, 350 emergency crews were also involved. The region is also looking anxiously at the weather forecast for the next few days ...

Because on Sunday, the weather map of the Austrian Severe Weather Center is once again glowing in yellow and orange. Thunderstorms and hail are threatening again - from Vorarlberg to western Upper Austria. There will be some precipitation, and thunderstorm cells may also be embedded in it. The fewest thunderstorms and showers are expected in south-eastern Austria, according to meteorologists from Geosphere Austria. 

(Bild: UBIMET)

The night will bring frequent rain in the north and local thunderstorm cells in the east. 

In the west, north and along the northern side of the Alps, clouds will predominate at the start of the week and it may rain again and again, especially in the first half of the day. A few showers and thunderstorms will also fall in the south-east. 

It will remain unsettled
It will remain unsettled in most of Austria on Tuesday. The tendency to shower will increase significantly, initially in the mountains and again in the eastern lowlands towards the evening, with a few thunderstorm and heavy rain cells likely to form below. The day will continue to be unsettled in the middle of the week. In addition to longer sunny spells, clouds and rain showers are to be expected at times, especially north of the main Alpine ridge. However, it should hardly cool down in the coming days.