Status: 10/22/2021 5:24 a.m.
The storm calmed down in large parts of the country during the night. Railway failures, accidents and damage subsided significantly. The wind moving towards Scandinavia can still be felt in the northeast.
The gusts of wind from deep “Hendrik II” gradually ran out of air during the night. After the autumn storm had ravaged large parts of Germany on Thursday, the situation relaxed increasingly. Nevertheless, the gusts of wind moving towards Scandinavia could still be felt in the coastal areas.
For today, the German Weather Service (DWD) forecast gusts or gusts of wind again in the north and center of Germany, as well as individual thunderstorms during the day.
Considerable damage from the first autumn storm over Germany
Svea Eckert, NDR, daily news 8:00 p.m., October 21, 2021
Various injuries from falling trees
The storm caused accidents and injuries in many places on Thursday. In Hesse, for example, a tree fell on a moving car on a country road, and the 58-year-old driver was seriously injured. In Thuringia, a branch caught the car of a driver who then also had to go to the hospital. A cyclist in Saxony-Anhalt was injured by a falling tree. A 17-year-old motorcyclist in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania was also injured.
Several people were trapped in their cars by fallen trees. A falling tree in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, barely missed a 20-year-old who was just getting out of the car. However, a branch hit her on the head and she was taken to a clinic. A 22-year-old said her car was hit by a gust of wind on the A31. The woman lost control and got off the lane, her car overturned – she was seriously injured in the hospital.
Bahn temporarily suspends long-distance traffic in NRW
In North Rhine-Westphalia, Deutsche Bahn temporarily suspended long-distance traffic. Only after more than three hours did express trains start rolling again on the important routes from Hamburg or Berlin in the afternoon. There were also delays and impairments in regional traffic due to branches or other objects on the tracks and in the overhead lines. In Thuringia, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt, Deutsche Bahn temporarily completely stopped regional traffic.
The first autumn storm raged in the Harz region in particular, the DWD said. Wind speeds of around 150 kilometers per hour were measured on the Brocken. A storm surge flooded the fish market in Hamburg’s St. Pauli district. A spokeswoman for the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH) said the apex was reached early Thursday evening at 1.72 meters above the mean flood. Numerous onlookers wanted to see it.
The storm also raged in the neighboring countries of the Czech Republic and France, causing police operations and train cancellations. Several people were injured. Injuries and damage were also reported from the Netherlands.