2023-10-20 19:27:00
An 86-year-old was killed by a falling tree on a forest road in Landeck, the APA police confirmed several media reports. The man got out of the car because there was a tree on the road. At that moment, two more trees suddenly fell, one of which hit the 86-year-old. He died later at the accident site.
Power outages and covered roofs
On Friday, Geosphere Austria issued the highest warning level “red” for the upper Zillertal, while “orange” was partly the case in Tyrol. Trees snapped, roofs were covered – and power outages were also the result. Over 4,000 households were briefly without power.
Image: ZOOM.TIROL (APA)
According to police information, apart from the fatal accident in Landeck, no other serious accidents occurred as of Friday afternoon. By the evening, however, the fire brigades had to go out on 250 missions, 139 in the Innsbruck-Land district alone, according to State Security Councilor Astrid Mair (ÖVP). The main reason for the operations was fallen trees, which also resulted in short-term road closures. The Brenner railway line was closed in the morning because trees had fallen on the overhead line.
- Video: Föhn storm – thousands of households without power
Train route closed
According to ÖBB route information, no long-distance journeys between Steinach am Brenner and Bozen were possible until 7 p.m.
But the foehn was also blowing very strongly in other federal states. 171 km/h were measured in the Hohe Tauern near the Rudolfshütte in Salzburg, 165 km/h at Semmering in Lower Austria. Geosphere reported on Friday that there were hurricane-like gusts of over 120 km/h, and in some cases well over 150 km/h, on many mountains. In the valleys, speeds of 60 to 80 km/h can be expected, in places even 100 km/h and above. Over 100 km/h were possible, especially in the classic foehn corridors, for example from the Wipptal in Tyrol to the valleys of the eastern Tauern, such as the Gasteinertal in Salzburg. There were over 100 km/h in the valleys with 124 km/h Schmirn in Tyrol, a side valley of Wipptal, 118 km/h Kolm Saigurn at the foot of the Sonnblick in Salzburg, 104 km/h Achenkirch (Tyrol) as well as in Salzburg’s Abtenau . At the Tyrolean Patscherkofel, 197 km/h was the fourth highest value recorded here since wind measurements began in 1977.
90 missions in Vorarlberg
The strong foehn also kept the emergency services in Vorarlberg on their toes in the morning. The rescue and fire brigade control center (RFL) recorded 90 missions by the afternoon, which were mainly concentrated in the greater Feldkirch area. The emergency services removed broken trees from streets and power lines and roofs were covered. According to the media, in Rankweil (Feldkirch district), a forest kindergarten group had to be brought to safety because a tree fell next to the kindergarten. The group remained unharmed. According to Vorarlberger Energienetze GmbH, 15,000 households in Dornbirn were briefly without electricity, as were around 70 customers in Schoppernau (Bregenzerwald) and Satteins (Feldkirch district).
Children had to be brought to safety
The strong foehn kept the emergency services in Vorarlberg on their toes. The rescue and fire brigade control center (RFL) recorded 75 operations in the morning, which were mainly concentrated in the greater Feldkirch area. The emergency services removed broken trees from streets and power lines and roofs were covered. According to the media, in Rankweil (Feldkirch district), a forest kindergarten group had to be brought to safety because a tree fell next to the kindergarten. The group remained unharmed. Isolated fire service operations were also reported from Salzburg and Carinthia.
Roadblocks in Carinthia
In Carinthia, around a hundred fire brigade operations were reported, mainly because of fallen trees and damaged roofs. The fire brigades expect further operations until midnight. According to the police, there were roadblocks on the Großglockner Hochalpenstrasse (B107), Katschberg Strasse (B99), Wurzenpass Strasse (B109), Seeberg Strasse (B82), Turracher Strasse (B95) and Malta Hochalmstrasse. According to Kelag, around 4,000 households were affected by power outages in the evening hours, mainly in the Mölltal, in the Nockberge, in the Katschberg area and in the lower Gailtal.
Disruptions in train traffic
There were also disruptions in train traffic. In Vorarlberg, the Feldkirch – Buchs railway line was interrupted when trees fell on the overhead line. The Bregenz-Lauterach route was also blocked due to storms, as was the Brenner route near Steinach in Tyrol. The work will last until the afternoon, an ÖBB spokesman said at lunchtime. A replacement rail service was set up for the affected routes. Passengers should expect further disruptions at any time until the foehn wind subsides.
There were significant disruptions to the power supply in the south of Salzburg in the afternoon. Up to 14,000 households were without power, and by 6 p.m. all but around 500 households in Lungau (Turrach, Zederhaus, Hintermuhr), Pinzgau (Uttendorf) and Pongau (Gasteinertal) had power restored. By 6 p.m., the fire department reported 90 incidents in the three districts, to which 544 firefighters from 29 fire departments had been deployed. In the Gastein healing tunnel, 200 guests were cut off from the outside world because the road to the tunnel was closed due to the storm.
The foehn strengthened throughout the day on Friday, peaked in the afternoon and was expected to gradually weaken in the evening. According to Geosphere, this is one of the strongest foehn events in recent years.
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