Weather
Storm surges expected on the North Sea and Elbe
The water of the Elbe floods parts of the beach in Hamburg-Övelgönne during floods. photo
© Bodo Marks/dpa
Storms are sweeping across Germany this week. Flooding and flooding must be expected in the north.
The Federal Office of Shipping and Hydrography (BSH) expects on Thursday evening and Friday Storm surges in Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg. The focus will be in the Elbe area, said a spokeswoman for the BSH in Hamburg on Wednesday. According to the BSH forecast, on Thursday evening the storm surge mark of 1.5 meters above mean high water will be reached in Husum, at the Eider barrage near Tönning and in Glückstadt on the Elbe. Such water levels are also expected in Hamburg late in the evening. The water levels should then initially decrease.
According to the BSH forecast, water levels are expected to reach storm surge levels again on Friday morning. Slightly higher water levels are expected than on Thursday evening. According to the BSH spokeswoman, it was initially unclear whether the mark of a severe storm surge of 2.5 meters above mean high water would be reached. The situation is still developing, she said.
The German Weather Service (DWD) warned of gale-force gusts and hurricanes for Thursday. In exposed locations on Helgoland and the North Sea coast as well as on Fehmarn in the Baltic Sea, wind strengths of levels eleven and twelve cannot be ruled out, said a DWD meteorologist. Heavy storms with force ten winds are expected on the coasts, with gusts of force eight to nine expected inland. “It will be cloudy and rainy,” he said.
Some ferries between the Halligen and the mainland will be canceled due to the predicted storm on Thursday, as the Wyker Dampfschiffs-Reederei announced on its website. Due to the expected flooding, there could be further cancellations and timetable changes until Saturday.
According to DWD information, the storm is expected to initially decrease on Friday night. The weather service is expecting some heavy squalls again on Friday, but wind forces eleven and twelve are no longer expected to be reached. Clouds, showers and sleet alternate, and on the Baltic Sea coast the sky can clear up from time to time.