Help from the air

Helicopters to clear lines of snow

Private Hubschrauber sind in Kärnten im „Schnee-Einsatz“

(Bild: Felix Justich)

Although the situation in snow-covered Carinthia is slowly easing, several helicopters have been in action since 10 a.m. to clear the power lines of snow. But the "snow" operation turned out to be difficult!

Around 3800 households in Central and Lower Carinthia are still without power due to the snow. To restore the power supply, Kelag has hired private helicopters. "Their primary purpose is to ensure that our fitters can work as safely as possible," explains Robert Schmaranz from Kärnten Netz. "But the helicopters can also be used for 'downwashing', where the suction of the rotors is used to blow the lines and routes clear. If this can be done safely, we will also use it to further secure the power supply." 

Poor visibility causes problems
After some start-up difficulties due to the fog, one helicopter set to work, while two had to stay on the ground due to poor visibility. "We took off from St. Veit at around 10 a.m. and have now cleared the snow from all the power lines in the Saualm area," reports Norbert Stromberger from Kärnten Netz, who is coordinating the operation with the pilots. According to Kelag, Hüttenberg and Mölbling have also already been approached. On the one hand, they are guided by Kelag's incident map, focusing primarily on those parts of Carinthia where it has snowed more.

A mission like this requires a sure instinct, as the helicopter flies about 2 meters above the brewery boundary to the right and left of the affected lines. "We'll probably be flying until around 5 p.m.!" says Stromberger. 

Private Hubschrauber sind in Kärnten im „Schnee-Einsatz“

(Bild: Felix Justich)

What will happen with the weather?
Meteorologist Christoph Matela from the UBIMET weather service explains in which parts of Carinthia the most centimeters of fresh snow could be measured and what it will look like for the rest of the day. In terms of precipitation, the largest amount of fresh snow was recorded in the Karawanken (50-70 cm), the Pack and the Koralpe at the highest altitudes, with up to 100 cm. In the Klagenfurt and Villach valleys, 18-20 cm of fresh snow fell in the last 24 hours. The Lavanttal and Wolfsberg unfortunately missed out - it mostly rained here.

Fire department used a drone
The Miegerer Landesstraße could be reopened on Tuesday. As reported, it had been closed from the Gurnitz exit to the Grafenstein/Truttendorf junction due to the acute danger of snow breakage. As the situation worsened over the course of Monday evening, the closure was extended to Hinterberg/Haber. In order to check whether it was safe for the fire department and snow clearing vehicles to drive on the road, the Florian 1 drone from the Zell-Gurnitz fire department was sent out on Tuesday.

After a positive assessment of the situation from the air, the long-awaited "go" was given for the Miegerer Landesstraße. Together with the Grafenstein and Mieger volunteer fire departments and the road administration, the remaining fallen trees and snow were removed from the road, which is an important link to the Rosental valley. The trees directly adjacent to the roadway were also freed from the snow load using water cannons. A danger to the emergency services was ruled out by the previous drone flight.

When asked what the temperature would be like for the rest of the week and whether the snow would stay with us, meteorologist Matela replied: "In the higher layers, as well as in the lowlands, temperatures will remain constant at around zero degrees until the weekend!"