Status: 08/17/2021 7:35 a.m.
A violent storm left a trail of devastation in the community of Großheide in East Frisia. According to the fire brigade, around 50 houses were damaged, five are no longer habitable for the time being.
“It was a sheer chaos that had to be cleared up,” said the fire department spokesman for the Aurich district, Manuel Goldenstein, early on Tuesday morning. He spoke of a “tornado-like” storm that had never happened before in the district. Many trees have overturned, roofs covered and roof ridges torn away. Individual gas, water and power lines were also damaged by fallen trees. The police and fire brigade announced that there were no reports of injuries.
100 emergency services help residents in the Aurich district
Around 100 emergency services from the entire Aurich district were on the move to check the affected houses after the residents and to clear roads again, said the fire department spokesman. The rescue workers struggled to clear the streets to get to the scene of action. The districts Ostermoordorf, Westermoordorf and Berumerfehn were particularly affected.
Roads blocked by fallen trees – tornado?
The local roads were partially blocked by fallen trees. Another fire brigade spokesman in the control center in Wittmund spoke of storm damage to a “not insignificant extent”. At first it was not clear whether it was a tornado. A spokesman for the German Weather Service (DWD) said: “It would be plausible. But we have to check it.”
Residents safe
The residents, whose houses are no longer habitable for the time being, have been housed in other places for the night, according to the rescue workers. The exact extent of the damage was still unclear early Tuesday morning.
Also used on Norderney
The fire brigade also moved out on the North Sea island of Norderney because of the storm. There rescue workers secured a tent on Januskopf in the west of the island, which has been used for concerts in the past few days. According to the fire brigade, the tent could not withstand the squalls of up to 90 kilometers per hour and partially collapsed. Nobody was injured. The fire brigade called on residents not to come to the emergency sites with additional auxiliary equipment such as chainsaws. The fire brigades had the situation under control, said a spokesman.
Gusts of up to 95 kilometers per hour
The German Weather Service had forecast stormy gusts of around 70 kilometers per hour for the Lower Saxony coast on Monday evening. Even on Tuesday night it remained stormy on the coast.