More than 30 people were injured, “including ten seriously” in Paderborn, a town in western Germany which was crossed by a “tornado”, a police spokesman told AFP on Friday. .
The tornado also caused significant property damage in this medium-sized city in North Rhine-Westphalia, hit hard by the storm currently crossing Germany and which started after abnormally high temperatures for the season.
Ripped roofs and uprooted trees
The town of Lippstadt, about thirty kilometers away, was also probably hit by a tornado, according to a spokesperson for the fire department, without any injuries being to be deplored at this stage.
Bad weather has caused extensive damage in this region of western Germany, with law enforcement reporting countless roofs ripped off and trees uprooted.
#Tornado Schäden aus #paderborn. Der Tornado zog MITTEN durch die Stadt 😳#Unwetter pic.twitter.com/2EKcg2bBjP
—Robert Boni 🇺🇦#climateActionNow 🇺🇦 (@RobertBoni6) May 20, 2022
Photos posted on social media also showed overturned cars. Rail traffic was badly disrupted and the police called on residents to stay at home.
The German meteorological services have issued a storm warning for Friday, with gusts of wind that could reach up to 130 km / h in places. The bad weather affected the west of the country first and is expected to spread eastwards later in the evening.