New thunderstorms caused damage again in Carinthia on Friday evening or increased the damage already caused on Thursday night. Also, there were gale-force winds that brought down trees and blocked roads and train tracks, among other things. The ÖBB Southern Railway between Unzmarkt in Styria and Friesach in Carinthia was disrupted. More than 200 people were taken from Friesach to Unzmarkt on ÖBB buses, where they continued their journey towards Vienna. A video shared on the Instagram platform “Klagenfurt_Elite” caused a stir on social networks:
In Carinthia, the fire brigades had to continue the clean-up work from Thursday to Friday morning, when there was a strong wind in the afternoon – in Hermagor already with wind gusts at speeds of up to 62 km/h during average hours day – caused it. many trees to fall and more thunderstorm cells to form without load across the state. The strong storm led to many water rescue and fire brigade operations, especially at Lake Faaker See, Lake Wörthersee and Lake Keutschacher. Many swimmers, stand up paddlers and surfers were unable to reach the shore due to the strong waves and were taken away in boats.
In Lavanttal, a tree fell on a vehicle, the driver was trapped in the car, but was freed without injury after the fire department removed the tree. At around 3:45 pm, lightning struck the roof of an agricultural building in the municipality of Reichenau (Feldkirchen district) during a thunderstorm. The farmer’s son brought the agricultural equipment such as tractors etc. out of the stable immediately.
On Friday, Carinthian fire departments had to deal with about 250 storm operations, and 151 fire departments were on duty. Saturday will be dedicated to cleaning work, especially in the Lavanttal, the state fire brigade said. It will be stormy, but drier weather is forecast for the weekend.
Friday in review
The face of bad weather reached Villach around 3 pm Half an hour later it became uncomfortable in the state capital Klagenfurt – shortly after that a sound was heard. At 4 pm, the second highest warning level across Central and Lower Carinthia was already being shown on the warning maps from the bad weather center, and the highest even for the entire St Veit area as well as smaller parts of the Feldkirchen area and Upper Lavanttal. warning level. The storms then focused on the Lavanttal.
According to Ubimet, there was a widespread cluster of thunderstorms with several cores across Austria in the afternoon. “The strongest cells continue to move across northern Lower Carinthia. Heavy gusts of up to 92 km/h have already been measured in Weitensfeld in Carinthia,” explained UBIMET meteorologist Nikolaus Zimmermann. Speeds of 70 km/h were reached in Klagenfurt. Storms and heavy rain were the main dangers in Carinthia and East Tyrol on Friday.
Fires and fallen trees
Many fallen trees also blocked roads. In Lavanttal, a tree fell on a vehicle, the driver was trapped in the car and was released unharmed after the fire department removed the tree. In the Krems municipality area (Spittal/Drau area), the B99 was blocked by a mudslide.
In Malta, lightning sparked a hedge fire that was quickly contained by the local fire department. There was another lightning strike in the Patergassen area, and the fire there was extinguished just as quickly by four fire departments. Lightning also struck the roof of an agricultural building in the municipality of Reichenau, but no fire occurred. In the early evening, Carinthian fire brigades responded to 250 storm operations on Friday. “After it calmed down, there were 10 to 20 more,” the LAWZ said shortly after 9 p.m.
Live Regenradar
Interference with traffic
The storms also caused traffic problems on the roads. loud Antenna Carinthia The B317 Friesacher Straße between Friesach and Neumarkt in Styria was closed in the evening due to fallen trees. The L 99 Köttmannsdorfer Straße was already closed for a while at the junction to Wellersdorf due to fallen trees. Carinthia’s motorways were also disrupted: two sections of the A2 Südautobahn and the A10 Tauernautobahn in Carinthia were disrupted due to the storms.
There are also problems with rail traffic; A replacement rail service has been set up; A video shared on the Instagram platform “Klagenfurt_Elite” caused a stir on social networks – it shows a fire near the Frisian, taken from a train window. The fire is said to have been caused by a tree that fell on the tracks.
Power outage
There were also power outages in large parts of Carinthia due to the storms. At around 5 pm, areas in the Lavanttal, in the areas of St Veit and Feldkirchen and in isolated cases around Spittal/Drau were affected. There are also power outages east and south of Klagenfurt. In total, around 1,000 families are affected. At around 9 pm, five Carinthian districts were still affected.
The storms also caused power outages © Kärnten Netz
“Long time no see”
Savannah Pirker from Friesach saw the storm from her balcony (see the video), which she explains to the Kleine Zeitung: “From one moment to the next it got worse and worse, even tiles flew from my father-in-law’s roof . I haven’t experienced anything like that in Frisian for a long time.”
A new beginning is expected
“Severe storms are still moving across the Gurk and Lavant valleys, so the danger is still high,” explained meteorologist Nikolaus Zimmermann at around 4:30 pm In East Tyrol and Upper Carinthia the peak had already passed this point. It is said that Zimmermann was right about the change of time;
Friday afternoon continued to be quiet, with rain showers here and there and one or two lightning flashes, but no more large cells moving through. According to meteorologist Zimmermann, there will be another threat of severe weather after a relatively quiet Friday evening – it could become uncomfortable again on Saturday night.