EA storm front with heavy rain and squalls swept over North Rhine-Westphalia on Thursday evening and left some traces. In several cities, the fire brigades were in constant use – for example because of fallen trees, flooded basements and streets. Due to the consequences of the storm, Deutsche Bahn experienced failures and route closures.
The German Weather Service had warned of the thunderstorm front with heavy rain. In Duisburg, the phones in the Baerl district failed, reported the fire brigade, which had to process 500 emergency calls in a short time. In the case of operations without danger to people, it could take a while for the fire brigade to arrive, it said. By 10 p.m., more than 600 operations related to the storm had been reported to the city’s fire department. There are a number of fallen trees and flooding of streets and basements.
On the Ruhr, the fire brigade rescued people who had capsized in a boat. In neighboring Mülheim/Ruhr, an approximately 20 meter high oak tree was probably split by a lightning strike. Half of a tree fell on a two-storey house and damaged the roof. A car was buried by the tree. People were not harmed.
In Krefeld, the entire fire department was in constant use because of the storm, and this will probably still be the case on Friday, a spokesman said. He praised the people of Krefeld: many citizens had started pulling smaller trees and branches off the streets on their own. Streets and many basements were also flooded in the city. Trees also fell on the train route between Krefeld and Meerbusch, which was temporarily blocked.
There was also a tree on the railway line between Gronau and Enschede. The section was closed, trains were waiting at stations, as DB Regio tweeted. There are delays and partial cancellations. There were also failures due to the storm on the S-Bahn between Bergisch Gladbach and Düsseldorf Airport. In Cologne, the fire brigade reported 32 missions via Twitter. Trees had fallen there too. In Bottrop, from around 7 p.m., a heavy thunderstorm moved from the south across the entire city – with heavy rain and violent gusts of wind. The fire brigade announced that they had been called to several operations because of fallen trees. In Oberhausen, three vehicles were damaged by fallen trees, according to the fire brigade.
Southern Germany also affected
Storms also caused heavy rain and hail in southern Germany on Thursday evening. In Kempten, a lightning strike shut down the railway signal box, and trains were temporarily stopped on the route to Kaufering. In Oberstdorf there were mudslides, several roads were blocked by debris and water, and the cellars and stables were full of water.
In the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, the fire brigade had to go out on 47 missions on Thursday evening. A spokesman for the Oberland integrated control center said that hail had destroyed skylights and that water had entered Aldi in Oberau. The federal highway 2 was briefly impassable in Oberau. Cellars were flooded. There were two storm operations in the Bad Tölz district.
The German Weather Service had warned of the thunderstorm front with heavy rain. Strong thunderstorms could also occur on Friday, especially in the east and north-east, the DWD said on Thursday. The temperatures there rise to a muggy 25 to 30 degrees. In the rest of Germany, the values are between 18 and 24 degrees. In the north-west and south-west, shower-like rainfall is also to be expected, which will move east over the course of the day. In the western half it will generally remain dry with loosening cloud cover.
In the night to Saturday, the rain and clouds will largely say goodbye in the north-east and on the Alps and thunderstorms are hardly to be expected. It cools down to 15 to 8 degrees. According to the meteorologists, the sun will often shine on Saturday. There are only a few clouds then. In the north it tends to be more frequent. However, showers are rarely to be expected. The temperatures rise to 24 to 28 degrees. Sunday night will be clear with lows of 16 to 10 degrees.
Thunderstorms and showers are still possible on Sunday in the extreme south-west and in the Alps. Otherwise it will be sunny again with a hot 26 to 32 degrees and partly cloudy. It only gets a little cooler in the north of Schleswig-Holstein and on sections of the coast.