Severe storms with hail in Germany: new warning today
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Severe storms caused dozens of fire brigade operations on Monday evening. Heavy rain and thunderstorms can also be expected in many places on Tuesday.
Frankfurt – Summer is currently showing its extreme side. After a historic heat wave in June, the thermometer is currently rising again in many regions. And with the current weather conditions, severe storms won’t be long in coming. The German Weather Service had already warned of severe thunderstorms for Monday evening. Hundreds of emergency services had to be deployed.
Parts of Lower Saxony, among others, were affected by the severe storms. According to police information, around 250 emergency calls were received in the state due to the storm from Monday evening at 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. alone. The fire brigade was called out a good 600 times. The German Weather Service had warned in advance of storms in parts of northern Germany. The districts of Cuxhaven, Stade, Harburg Diepholz, Verden and Nienburg/Weser should be affected.
Severe storms in parts of Germany: Massive hailstorm in Heidenau
When the severe storms started, a picture of destruction quickly emerged. For example, in Heidenau in the Harburg district there was a massive hailstorm with centimeter-sized hailstones. Among other things, these smashed the windows of cars and made dents in the paint. Videos from Heidenau showed that some roofs were severely damaged.
“It ruined everything,” one resident said loudly dpa to the unusually strong hail. The large grains hissed over her apartment building and the balcony. “Nothing is intact anymore, it’s raining through the roof and into the apartments.” Her roommate’s brand new car is now “junk.” “I have lived in Heidenau for 18 years now, I have never experienced anything like this, such chaos,” reported the woman.
In the Hanover region and later also in the city area, heavy rain flooded numerous cellars, underground car parks and elevator shafts. “We have all the local fire departments, all the forces that are available,” said a fire department spokesman. Even off-duty workers were alerted. A total of around 300 emergency services from all 17 local fire departments were on duty during the night to gradually process the many emergency calls.
Initially, the storm primarily hit the Hanover region. From around 10.45 p.m., more and more emergency calls were received from the city area, said the spokesman. In some cases, the emergency services also responded to fallen trees and a suspected lightning strike. The fire department was initially unable to say exactly how many storm-related operations there were in total.
In Celle, a thunderstorm front with heavy rain triggered 21 fire brigade operations. According to the fire department, the operations began around 11 p.m. and several cellar entrances and a street were under water. Shortly afterwards, more emergency calls were received; in most cases, water had penetrated into the basement. In an underground car park the water was up to 30 centimeters high in places.
Tennis ball-sized hail in the Ludwigslust-Parchim district in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, tennis ball-sized hail accumulated on the ground in the Ludwigslust-Parchim district, so that the hail had to be cleared away with wheel loaders, the West Mecklenburg control center said. It looked like winter snowfall. The control center was not aware of any injuries and was initially unable to provide any information about property damage.
In Elmshorn in the Pinneberg district of Schleswig-Holstein, storms even slowed down a patrol car. During an operation on Monday, the police car got stuck on a flooded road. According to the police, no one was injured. The car was therefore traveling in the waterway when it could no longer move forward in the flood. Further details were initially not known.
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In total, the police regional control center West registered seven weather-related operations since the evening, four of them in Elmshorn, the others in Horst and Hohenfelde. These included flooded streets, a pushed-up manhole cover and a suspected lightning strike. According to police, there was also a traffic accident probably due to hail or aquaplaning. Nobody was injured.
Heavy rain and thunderstorms also in NRW
Heavy rain and thunderstorms were also noticeable in North Rhine-Westphalia. Numerous fire brigade operations were carried out in the East Westphalia-Lippe region. As a spokesman for the Gütersloh district fire department announced, the emergency services have been deployed on 115 missions in Verl and the surrounding area since Monday evening. There were six missions in Gütersloh during the same period. The fire brigade was mainly called to local floods, for example due to gullies being pushed up by water and cellars being full.
In Bielefeld, the city fire department reported a roof fire that was said to have been caused by a lightning strike. No one was injured in the fire in the eastern district of Stieghorst. 50 firefighters quickly brought the fire under control. In the east of Bielefeld, the fire brigade also reported more and more full basements.
Storms also expected on Tuesday
The DWD is also warning of storms in parts of Germany on Tuesday. Strong thunderstorms with a risk of severe weather are possible in the middle and south. Heavy rain, storms and hail are also possible here. In the west and southwest, “strong heat stress” must be expected in some areas. Already on Tuesday morning, the DWD weather map was colored in many regions. Sources: dpa, DWD (jl)