Status: 01/30/2022 09:40 a.m
The storm “Nadia” continues to rage over northern Germany. Police and fire brigade are in constant use. Storm damage also caused massive problems in rail traffic.
Long-distance traffic in northern Germany was temporarily stopped yesterday evening due to the storm. And there are still obstacles in regional and long-distance traffic. Due to storm damage, Deutsche Bahn warns of train cancellations and delays until noon. the Bahn provides information on its website about the current status.
Storm surge warning for coast, Weser and Elbe area
The German Weather Service (DWD) warns of hurricane-like gusts and individual hurricane gusts along the entire coast and in large parts of Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania until the morning. Because of the storm, there was a storm surge on the North Sea coast during the night. And it’s not over yet: by the afternoon, a severe storm surge must be expected on the German North Sea coast and in the Weser and Elbe area, warns Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH). According to their own statements, the fire brigade in Wilhelmshaven has therefore additionally strengthened the dike gates.
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Hamburg: 750 storm operations and storm surge on the Elbe
The strong wind caused hundreds of police and fire brigade operations. alone in Hamburg police counted around 300 storm operations by early morning, and the fire brigade even 450. According to the BSH, there was a severe storm surge in the Elbe area of Hamburg during the night – the fish market in St. Pauli was flooded. In addition, a dredger became wedged under the Elbe bridges late on Saturday evening. As the Hamburg police announcedseveral bridges had to be closed as a result of the accident – with the corresponding obstructions for traffic.
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Damaged freighter off the East Frisian coast
Another accident occurred in Lower Saxony: around 30 kilometers off the East Frisian coast, an unloaded freighter drifted in the sea for several hours. The 190 meter long “Vienna” had recognizable problems when manoeuvring, according to the Cuxhaven CCME. The machine was too weak to hold the ship against wind and waves. Therefore, among other things, emergency tugs were sent to the distressed vessel. However, the storm had made the operation considerably more difficult. According to a spokesman for the CCME, the freighter was secured after about six hours: “Had we not intervened, the ship would have become a risk for the coast.” According to initial findings, the 24 crew members were not injured. The ship was not damaged either.
Lower Saxony: Fallen trees cause disabilities
In the Harz mountains, a country road had to be closed in the morning because a tree had fallen on the road. During the night there had already been several traffic accidents in Lower Saxony due to fallen trees: According to the police, trees in the districts of Hildesheim and Goslar fell directly in front of two cars. A 64-year-old and a 27-year-old were unable to brake in time, but were uninjured. In the Rotenburg (Wümme) district, a tree fell on a train – nobody was injured. In the district of Aurich in East Friesland, the fire brigade was called around 25 times to help. Trees and construction fences had also fallen there.
Schleswig-Holstein: 800 missions and 127 km/h wind speed
The storm reached top speeds of almost 130 kilometers per hour during the night. The meteorologists measured the highest wind speed in Schleswig-Holstein: On Hallig Hooge (Nordfriesland district), “Nadia” reached up to 127 kilometers per hour, according to the German Weather Service. The fire brigades had to be called out about 800 times in Schleswig-Holstein. Most deployments were recorded in the south: the Bad Oldesloe control center alone reported almost 400 storm-related deployments by the morning.
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Effects also in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
The storm low over the North Sea also brought a lot of work to the fire brigade and police in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. In Schwerin and the surrounding area, almost 200 operations were deployed, said a fire department spokesman. In Stralsund, too, the situation center reported that they had their hands full. In the municipality of Feldberger Seenlandschaft, a 16-year-old motorcyclist crashed his vehicle into a fallen tree and was seriously injured.
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“Funnel Effect and Bathtub Effect”
As the meteorologist Sebastian Wache reported in an interview in the ARD Infonacht, hurricane gusts with wind force 12 were measured over Schleswig-Holstein on Saturday evening. There will be a “bathtub effect” on the Baltic Sea: According to the guard, if the winds decrease during the course of Sunday, the water of the “Baltic Sea that has been pushed away” will slosh back and could, for example, overflow its banks in Flensburg.
AUDIO: Severe storms and continued risk of storm surges in the north (3 min)
Ferry connections are cancelled
The ferry connections of the Hallig line of the Wyker Dampfschiffs-Reederei (WDR) are canceled due to the storm. According to the shipping company, connections from Föhr, Amrum and Dagebüll are also affected. For the trips on the Hallig line to and from Hooge, there are replacement connections today at 2 p.m. from Schlüttsiel and at 3.15 p.m. from Langeneß. According to the WDR, there may be further timetable changes depending on the actual weather conditions. The Elbe ferry Glückstadt – Wischhafen stopped operating last night.
In addition, several ferries on the Baltic Sea between Rostock and Gedser were canceled in the morning. According to the shipowner, the regular timetable is expected to resume in both directions at 11:15 a.m. The Hiddensee shipping company used a special timetable between Schaprode and the island of Hiddensee that is still valid today.
National Park Administration: Do not enter the Harz Mountains
The DWD is also expecting severe gusts of wind on the Brocken in the Harz Mountains – hurricane gusts are also possible on the 1,141 meter high summit by the afternoon. The national park administration therefore advises against forest visits beyond the weekend. The hurricane-like gusts pose an acute danger to life, it said. Trees could be uprooted and entire treetops and branches could fall. Efforts will be made to eliminate the damage in the Harz forests in a timely manner, said a spokesman. However, it could be that individual paths are temporarily not accessible after the storm.
Temporary calming of the weather
According to the DWD, the wind decreases over the course of the day, and the day is mostly quite friendly with maximum temperatures between six and eight degrees.
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