Heavy rain
Hailstorm: Several accidents on the icy A31
There are several accidents in Lower Saxony due to hailstorms and heavy rain. photo
© Jens Büttner/dpa
Icy roads, hail and rain: This unfortunate combination causes several accidents on the A31 in Lower Saxony. There are also injuries on the A23.
Due to a hailstorm with heavy rain, there were several at the same time on Autobahn 31 in Lower Saxony Accidents occurred. A total of eight vehicles were involved in three accidents on icy roads near Haren, the police said. One person suffered serious injuries and three other people were slightly injured.
The collisions occurred between the Wesuwe and Haren junctions in the direction of Emden. A solid sheet of ice had formed on the road due to the hailstorm, a police spokesman said.
Initially, three vehicles skidded and collided. According to police, no one was injured in this accident. In a subsequent accident, four vehicles crashed into each other. One person was seriously injured and three were slightly injured. In the third accident, a car crashed into the central barrier, but there were no injuries.
The motorway was completely closed to the north to recover the vehicles and clean the road. A kilometer-long traffic jam formed.
Five-car accident in the north
During a hailstorm in Hohenfelde, Schleswig-Holstein, five cars were involved in an accident on the A23. Three injured people were taken to hospital, a motorway police spokesman said. The first accident probably occurred at midday during a hailstorm, which then led to a subsequent accident. The motorway towards Hamburg remained closed for several hours for rescue and clean-up work.