Turbulent night

Over 150 km/h! “Charly” set an all-time record

Storm "Charly" caused a turbulent night, with gusts of over 100 km/h even being measured in Vienna's city center.

(Bild: Stadt Wien | Feuerwehr )

Storm "Charly", which swept across Austria on Friday night, caused numerous call-outs. In the federal capital, the helpers from the Vienna professional fire department had to be called out a total of 70 times. Fortunately, the wind had already subsided in the morning hours. Some places even reported all-time records!

The striking cold front, which moved across the country from the north-west and south-east, caused the wind to suddenly freshen up at around 10 p.m. on Thursday. Especially in the east: Wind gusts of 108 km/h were measured in Vienna city center, on the Hohe Warte and in Unterlaa. 

Over 150 km/h at the Rax mountain station
In Wiener Neustadt, there was even a storm with wind speeds of 112 km/h, while a monthly record of 137 km/h was also set in Buchberg, according to the severe weather center. There was also an all-time record at the Rax mountain station with 151 km/h and at the Jubiläumswarte in Vienna with 139 km/h. 

On Thursday, a red warning was issued in large parts of the east of the country. There were around 70 call-outs for the Vienna fire department from midnight - in addition to the usual volume of operations. Loose branches and fallen trees were the main items that had to be cleared, but fallen components and loose scaffolding elements also had to be secured. According to the professional fire department, no one was injured during these operations. As the wind has died down considerably, no large number of additional operations are expected.

The fire departments had to be called out several times during the night to Friday due to "Charly".

(Bild: Stadt Wien I Feuerwehr)

It was also stormy in Upper Austria. However, "Charly" did not get most of the firefighters out of bed. A few trees were blown down, but all the roofs are still on the houses and nobody was injured. The storm center did not issue any more warnings for squalls on Friday morning either.

There were also 120 fire department operations in Lower Austria. One focus was in the area around Vienna, Klaus Stebal from the provincial command said in response to an inquiry in the morning. However, helpers were also deployed in the Weinviertel, in Waidhofen an der Ybbs in the Mostviertel and in Schrems in the Waldviertel district of Gmünd.