Tens of thousands on site

Volunteers – true heroes of the disaster

Soldiers are also helping until they drop to alleviate suffering.

(Bild: BMLV/Daniel TRIPPOLT)

They rescue and help to the point of exhaustion. And without regard for their own lives! For an elderly woman from Würmla (Lower Austria), all help came too late. The fifth victim drowned with her "Elli".

The local firefighters had urgently asked the later victim to "give up" her house and be brought to safety. But Liane P. (81) was not persuaded - probably also because she had spent almost her entire life there. When the nearby Egelseegraben, an inconspicuous little stream, became a raging danger, it was too late.

Drowned with a miniature poodle
"Our dear neighbor drowned with her beloved 'Elli', a silver-grey miniature poodle. She didn't deserve to die like that," said the couple living opposite the old lady. The pensioner's body and that of her dead four-legged friend were recovered by Florianis from the four walls where the Lower Austrian woman had felt so safe. Touching detail: In the pensioner's flooded garden, a lifelike sculpture of "Elli" rises out of the water like a memorial. 

Liane P. had erected a monument to her "Elli" during her lifetime! It bears a touching resemblance to the beloved four-legged friend. Neither the woman nor her silver-grey miniature poodle made it out of the suddenly flooded house where they thought they were safe.

(Bild: Antal Imre/Imre Antal)

"Have to keep your head up"
The first rays of sunshine that pushed through the dark cloud cover on Tuesday not only gave the tens of thousands of helpers courage, but are also a ray of hope for the victims. "We've been through a storm and all we can do now is hold our heads high," said flood victim Dr. Helmut Faulenbach, looking ahead - echoing the famous Liverpool cheering song "You'll never walk alone", that in tough times you are never alone.

Returning home after the flood

(Bild: Albrich Silvia/Imre Antal)

As reported, the doctor had to wait more than 48 hours to be rescued. Among others, it was "everyday heroes" from Salzburg's Lungau region who had rushed to the aid of their fellow firefighters in Pottenbrunn (Lower Austria) and started the pumps there - in the St. Pölten district - to free them from the dirty-brown sloshing water. But this was just one of hundreds of scenes that showed what the country is all about.

The Florianis from Atzenbrugg are representative of all the other everyday heroes.

(Bild: Albrich Silvia/Imre Antal)

Tanks in action and cemetery flooded
In addition to soldiers on assistance missions, an army of charity, from firefighters to Red Cross paramedics and police officers to volunteers from the "Füreinand" campaign by "Krone" and Caritas, is also working in the flood areas. One of many positive examples from local politics: Mayor Michael Strasser from Weinburg (Lower Austria) in the Pielach Valley requested an armored recovery vehicle from the Austrian Armed Forces to secure a weir that was critically surrounded until the very end.

The Red Cross has emergency accommodation at the Tulln exhibition center.

(Bild: Thomas Lauber)

An eerie detail: in the neighboring village of Obergrafendorf, the flood had even reached the dead - the cemetery was completely flooded. The water has since receded from the graves and the work of the living continues. Meanwhile, more and more people displaced by the great flood in Lower Austria are returning to their homes. A small step back to normality.

The slow road back
Now that the torrential rain has subsided throughout the country and the water levels are falling, the clean-up work can begin.

All sorts of curious things came to light: at the Weidlingau S-Bahn station in Vienna, emergency services recovered a destroyed car - fortunately there were no people inside. Meanwhile, pumpkins were washed ashore from Upper Austria to Vienna. Farmers' crops were destroyed and, according to Agriculture Minister Norbert Totschnig, it is not yet possible to put a figure on the damage. The same applies to the infrastructure, which is currently being worked hard to repair.

Clean-up work in half the country: a car landed in the Wien River, which fortunately was probably not carrying people.

(Bild: picturedesk.com/APA/ROMAN PAYER)

The good news first: according to ASFINAG, all of the country's major freeways and expressways were open to traffic again on Tuesday. Federal highways and smaller traffic arteries in Upper and Lower Austria were still closed to traffic on Tuesday evening, however.

140 ships stranded
Nothing can be done on the water: a total of 140 ships were stranded on the flooded Danube, which is to remain off-limits to boat traffic until further notice.

No ships are sailing on the Danube.

(Bild: Jöchl Martin)

The Austrian Federal Railways are also working at full speed to reopen the lines affected by the severe storms. In Upper Austria, the Almtalbahn is running again as usual, while the Mühlkreisbahn and Donauuferbahn are still affected. The situation in Lower Austria is more precarious: the ÖBB Western Railway line between Vienna and St. Valentin remains closed, as does the Eastern line between Vienna and Hungary. The southern line is passable.

Many tracks are still closed and there was chaos at the stations.

(Bild: APA/ERNST WEISS / APA / picturedesk.com)

Wiener Linien breathed a sigh of relief with the first rays of sunshine on Tuesday. Normal service in the city will soon be resumed.

By the way, in order to make life easier for all passengers over the next few days, all transport companies in the eastern region (Vienna, Lower Austria, Burgenland) will recognize the tickets of the other companies up to and including Sunday.