Trembling before the Adriatic low

Alarm bells are ringing: What threatens us in Upper Austria

Symbolic image

(Bild: Sepp Pail)

What's coming? And who will be hit the hardest? Many people are currently asking themselves these anxious questions. A week ago it was scorching hot, the meadows were brown and the streams were dry. It has been raining since Monday and all the alarm bells are now ringing.

The Adriatic low "Anett" poses an acute risk of flooding. Wolfgang Traunmüller from Bluesky Wetteranalysen in Attnang-Puchheim explains how he assesses the situation: "A cold front has brought cool air to the Mediterranean, which is now returning to us like a boomerang in the form of an Italian low. Typical of such weather conditions is that they don't pass through, but stay put. We have a combination of very cool air near the ground and very humid air at higher altitudes. It's building up on the northern edge of the Alps and we're feeling the effects." Traunmüller is expecting very heavy rainfall.

Improvement only in sight from Wednesday
From the current perspective, up to 300 liters of precipitation are expected in Mariazeller Land (Styria) in the coming days. In Austria, the Salzkammergut and the Pyhrn-Eisenwurzen region are the main focus, where meteorologists expect 250 to 280 liters of rain. In the western Mühlviertel, the Innviertel and the central region, it is expected to be significantly less wet, although not necessarily dry.

Between 100 and 150 liters are expected for these parts of the country. "40 to 50 percent of the forecast precipitation is expected to fall on Saturday. There will be a break in the precipitation on Sunday, and it will continue on Monday and Tuesday. Only Wednesday looks better," says Traunmüller.

Hydroelectric power plants lower water levels
"The rivers will certainly rise, probably the big rivers too. From my point of view, it will be particularly interesting for the city of Steyr." Postscript: "But people there are used to dealing with floods."

They have emergency plans in the background and think ahead to what could happen. But you have to wait for the weather situation and see what happens.

Thomas Dreiblmeier, Bezirksfeuerwehrkommandant Gmunden

The staff at the hydroelectric power plants are already at the ready. Depending on the situation, the water level is lowered in accordance with the state's operating regulations "These reductions have relatively little effect compared to the expected flood events, to be honest. But we will carry out this lowering over the next few days," said Maximilian Schmiedel, Technical Director of Ennskraftwerke in a radio interview.

Sandbags are in great demand
In the meantime, not only are the water levels slowly rising, but panic is already setting in. The Gmunden district fire brigade was forced to make a Facebook post on Wednesday in which it dispelled a myth about free sandbags.

The rumor spread on social media that the population would receive free sandbags from the fire department, and the helpers had to dispel this myth.

(Bild: APA/dpa/Harald Tittel)

"Of course we have sandbags stored at the fire department. But they are only for our own use in emergencies and not for prevention. There are no plans to sell or issue sandbags to the public. People have to take care of the procurement themselves," explains Thomas Dreiblmeier, District Fire Brigade Commander Gmunden, who is also looking forward to the weather forecast for the coming days: "The fire departments are prepared for operations 365 days a year, but we definitely have the emergency plans in mind."