Severe Flooding Hits Austria & Beyond
16th September 2024
The unprecedented falls of snow in the Alps and rain lower down have led to emergencies in Austria, Poland and the Czech Republic. UPDATED
There have been unprecedented September falls of snow and rain in the Eastern Alps.
Austrian storm warning centre UWZ says that in some areas, previous records for the entire month of September will be “surpassed in just a few days”.
Manuel Kelemen, a forecaster for Puls24 TV, said “what we’re experiencing is extraordinary, if not unprecedented”.
It is being described as a 1 in 50 year event by the Ministry of the Environment of the Czech Republic where there has been heavy flooding.
We have reported on the snow conditions:
But there is another side to the coin.
The weather has caused huge disruption, severe flooding and loss of life.
At least 16 people are confirmed dead across Central Europe with some injuries, plus significant damage to property and infrastructure.
The worst of the flooding is in parts of Austria, Poland and the Czech Republic.
Many alpine areas have also been affected.
A firefighter has died while pumping out a flooded cellar in Austria.
The Austrian Chancellor, Karl Nehammer, has called up the armed forces to offer assistance to regions hit by the storm.
€300m (£253m) in recovery funds is being made available.
Most parties have suspended campaigning for the federal elections that are set to be held on 29th September.
In Italy a 56-year-old Canadian woman has died in the Dolomites after she was caught in the snowstorm last Thursday.
The woman was climbing with a 56-year-old male companion.
He is suffering from severe hypothermia.
They called the Italian Alpine Rescue Corps for help after being hit by the snowstorm about two kilometres from a mountain refuge.
There have been numerous avalanches in the mountains.
An avalanche buried an elderly German hiker on Saturday in Austria and he is feared dead.
A German rescue worker was caught in a follow-on avalanche but survived.
The 72-year-old hiker was caught in the avalanche and swept down around 100-150 meters over steep, rocky terrain.
He was completely buried.
Two other hikers were partially buried but were able to free themselves.
They were part of a group of around 30 on a summer hiking trail in the Karwendel region in Austria.
Search and rescue teams from Tirol Austria, and Germany responded to the incident.
The search for the missing hiker has been suspended as it is deemed unsafe to continue.
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The Austrian railway network OEBB has advised all passengers to postpone non-urgent journeys.
Part of the Tauern railway line between Bad Hofgastein and Böckstein in the province of Salzburg has been closed because of heavy snowfall.
Flooding and landslides are possible, with gale force winds around the capital, Vienna.
The Austrian province surrounding Vienna has been declared a disaster area, with authorities describing it as “an unprecedented extreme situation”.
The disaster control authority advises against unnecessary journeys.
In the districts of Melk, St. Pölten and Tulln, some roads are currently impassable due to flooding.
“The state of Lower Austria assumes that numerous localities will be difficult or impossible to reach by land in the coming hours,” said the authorities on Sunday.
Austria’s meteorological service issued its highest warning for heavy rainfall in Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland.
The province of Lower Austria has been declared a catastrophe zone.
Austrian Railways, OEBB, say no trains are running between Vienna and Linz.
The main A1 western motorway has flooded near the town of St Pölten and closed at the entrance to Vienna.
Parts of the Vienna underground have been closed, as the Wienfluss river levels rise.
In a post on X, Austria‘s Chancellor Karl Nehammer said: “The storm situation has worsened in the last few hours…The storm situation in the federal states is very serious.”
We will be updating this article so do check back for further developments…
