Even the weather service was surprised by this hurricane. On Wednesday evening a storm with heavy rain and lightning swept through Rastatt. The first balance sheet.
Like here in Leopoldring, many trees fell in Rastatt.
Photo: Frank Vetter
Flooded streets, fallen trees, full basements: a surprise storm hit cold Rastatt on Wednesday afternoon.
The gale-force winds brought flaming rain. Although the storm only lasted about a quarter of an hour, it caused significant damage.
200 missions in the Rastatt area
In the Rastatt area, there were about 200 fire brigade calls due to the rain, said a spokesman for the Offenburg police headquarters. The police had about 30 operations.
“Stripes stopped because the rain was so heavy it was almost impossible to drive,” he said. Several trees fell on cars and trucks. “That must have been good in the Rastatt area,” he said.
A police spokesperson told SWR that the official storm warning only reached the police when the storm had already passed. You could see on weather apps that it was getting warmer. But: “No one expected it to be so violent.”
Sudden heavy rain flooded city streets and filled cellars and underpasses. However, high levels of property damage are expected.
Aquaplaning resulted in two minor accidents with minor injuries, a police spokesman said Thursday morning. In some cases the motorway was closed due to aquaplaning.
The Natura outdoor pool is still closed in Rastatt
Due to storm and storm damage, the Natura outdoor pool in Rastatt remains closed.
District fire chief Heiko Schäfer reported on Wednesday at 7:45 pm in an initial assessment of 35 fire department operations in Rastatt. One person was injured.
“I’ve never experienced that,” said a resident on Herrenstrasse who tried to get onto a roof that evening because of damaged tiles.
Drivers had to stop because they could no longer see anything or streets, such as Karlsruher Straße, were flooded. The sewage system could no longer cope with the water masses.
Underpasses were also full. Road users had to avoid broken branches at walking speed.
A hurricane-like storm over Rastatt: a thunderstorm cell splits
Schäfer admitted that they were surprised by the storm. A main storm cell appeared on the left bank of the Rhine and then unexpectedly split, Schäfer reports.
The storm hit Rastatt in particular. “It’s relatively peaceful in the rest of the area,” Schäfer said around 8 p.m
The district fire chief emphasizes the fact that the forecasts must be taken with caution, saying that the weather service did not take this storm into account. “The warning only came when the storm was already around the corner.”
Due to the size of the storm, Schäfer reinforced the control center in the district office that evening.