Thunderstorms, heavy rain and hurricanes have caused severe damage in parts of Germany. At first it hit North Rhine-Westphalia in particular: In Paderborn The storm has already caused a lot of damage. 30 to 40 people were injured, at least ten of them seriously. The district announced this in the evening. A fire department spokesman previously reported covered roofs and uprooted trees. A reporter from the German Press Agency reported that trees had fallen on cars. “It’s chaos here right now,” said a police spokeswoman.
A suspected tornado also caused massive damage in Lippstadt, about 35 kilometers away, in the afternoon. The entire city area was affected, said a fire department spokesman. Numerous roofs were covered and trees fell on cars. A spokesman for the NRW Ministry of the Interior said that in addition to Paderborn and Lippstadt, no other places were known that had been hit similarly.
Paderborn: A resident looks out of one of the broken windows of her apartment. The storm caused enormous damage in the city.
(Photo: Lino Mirgeler/dpa)
The through deep Emmelinde conditional thunderstorms hit first North Rhine-Westphalia. For parts of the federal state, the German Weather Service (DWD) issued the first official severe weather warning in the early afternoon due to severe thunderstorms. The meteorologists later expanded the warning Parts of Rhineland-Palatinate, Thuringia, Bavaria, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Lower Saxony and Baden-Württemberg out of. “Anyone who has no plans should rather stay at home,” said a spokesman for the DWD.
The forecast center expects “partly very severe to extreme thunderstorms”. Later the front should also be over Brandenburg draw. Evening and night are also in Southern Germany thunderstorm possible. The heaviest precipitation was in the Northern half of NRW to be expected, with stronger gusts of wind is more likely in the southern half of the country to reckon with. However, the criteria for the severe weather affect the whole country.
In Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland, despite massive thunderstorms, there was no major damage until the evening. Police and rescue workers reported isolated fallen trees, hail damage to cars and flooding of basements. A man died in Rhineland-Palatinate when he entered a flooded basement: the 38-year-old suffered an electric shock, fell and probably hit his head, the police said.
Only isolated thunderstorms on Saturday night
The German Weather Service expects some severe thunderstorms in the south on Saturday night. Otherwise the thunderstorms should move towards Poland and the weather should calm down from the west. On Saturday there could still be isolated short thunderstorms with stormy gusts in the north-east, which will subside in the afternoon.
The reason for the storm is a small-scale depression called Emmelindethat from Benelux to the Polish border pulls. The DWD expects “well-organized and larger thunderstorm complexes or thunderstorm clusters”. There could be heavy gusts of wind up to hurricane gusts. Extreme heavy rain in a short time can also occur, as well as large hail. In addition, there is “a low potential for individual tornadoes,” as meteorologist Sebastian Altnau said.
NRW Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU) called on the population to be particularly careful in view of the storm warnings. “Please stay at home. Avoid being outdoors. In particular, keep your distance from buildings, trees, scaffolding and high-voltage lines! Do not go into the basement or lower floors.” He appealed to the citizens: “Take the warnings of the German Weather Service very seriously.” People should find out about warning apps like “Nina” and “DWD Warnwetter”. They should also pay attention to siren alarms and radio and loudspeaker announcements.
All schools in the Ahrweiler district remain closed
In view of the weather forecast, the State Agency for Nature and the Environment in North Rhine-Westphalia also activated the flood information service. So far, however, there have been no major floods.
Many schools ended classes early on Friday due to the threat of severe weather so that the students could get home safely. In the government districts Cologne, Arnsberg, Detmold, Munster and Dusseldorf the decision rested with the schools or the individual municipalities. The schools sponsored by the Ahrweiler district in Rhineland-Palatinate were completely closed.
Many events have also been canceled as a precaution due to the weather. So the fell in Bad Münstereifel planned thanksgiving for helpers of the flood disaster. In Cologne Among other things, the zoo and the forest botanical garden were closed, and the cemeteries were also to remain open to visitors from the afternoon. Of the Dortmund Zoo stayed closed all day.
Given the warnings, many are likely to be reminded of the flood disaster in the Ahr Valley. In July 2021, after extremely heavy rain, 134 people died and thousands of houses were destroyed. To this day, many people live in alternative quarters.