Chaos in rail traffic - storm surge warning for Friday

Storm "Zoltan" - Chaos in rail traffic - storm surge warning for Friday

Chaos at train stations in Hanover and Hamburg, travelers stranded for hours and a warning of a severe storm surge on the North Sea coast for Friday: storm "Zoltan" is causing chaos in the north shortly before Christmas. The damage in Lower Saxony and Bremen was still limited on Thursday evening. Trees fell, ferries did not run and Christmas markets remained closed. In Cuxhaven, a dyke passage was secured with sandbags and flooded areas were evacuated in Bremen.

Rail traffic in northern Germany was disrupted until late in the evening. "All emergency services have been put on standby," said a railroad spokesperson. "We have gathered large equipment and repair vehicles so that we can - if necessary - remove fallen trees or branches from the overhead line as quickly as possible."

There was initially no improvement in sight for Friday: the German Weather Service is expecting gusts of 90 to 110 kilometers per hour for the North and Baltic Sea coasts in the morning, with even stronger gale-force winds possible.

On Thursday, the evening high tide in Emden reached 2.06 meters above mean high tide, in Bremerhaven 1.99 meters and in Cuxhaven 1.95 meters, according to a spokesperson for the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH). For East Frisia, the BSH warned of a severe storm surge, the water level could rise to 2.50 meters on Friday morning. From a water level of 2.5 meters above mean high tide, a severe storm surge applies.

The storm surge is triggered by the fact that the wind is currently blowing consistently strong from one direction and thus damming up the water on the North Sea coast. "Once the tidal wave has passed the North Sea islands, it will run up the rivers in its wake," said Jennifer Brauch from the BSH forecasting services for the North and Baltic Seas.

Deutsche Bahn is still expecting restrictions on passenger services on Friday. "In some cases, damage can only be conclusively assessed in daylight," said a spokesperson. "However, it is already clear that the damage is considerable and that restrictions for passengers will last at least until tomorrow." All of DB's clearing teams are on the road with repair vehicles to remove trees from track areas and repair overhead lines.

Many rail travelers needed patience on Thursday: for example, at times there were no trains on the important connection from Berlin to Hanover, as could be seen on DB's online information channels. A dpa reporter reported from a train from Hamburg to Hanover that the station in the capital of Lower Saxony could not be reached due to overcrowding. "This is an absolute catastrophe. Just before Christmas of all times. Why wasn't the railroad prepared? The storm warning has been in place for four days," said one passenger.

According to Deutsche Bahn, there were restrictions due to storm damage on the Kiel-Hamburg-Bremen-NRW, Norddeich Mole-Emden-Rheine-Münster and Magdeburg-Hanover-Bremen-Leer-Emden-Norddeich Mole routes, for example. Regional services were also affected. The train service was canceled for Thursday. Passengers could use their ticket on a later day. However, DB pointed out that long-distance trains were already very busy due to the upcoming Christmas holidays.

There was initial damage in Bremen and Wilhelmshaven. In the Hanseatic city, a 15-metre-high tree fell next to a bus stop, according to the fire department. No one was reportedly injured. Pictures showed waiting passengers who narrowly avoided being hit by the tree. In Wilhelmshaven, parts of a scaffolding fell over, causing a road to be closed.

The Lower Saxony State Agency for Water Management, Coastal Defence and Nature Conservation issued a flood warning for the whole of Lower Saxony. In many places, the first rivers would burst their banks and flood forestry and agricultural land. Due to the heavy rainfall in the autumn, the soil is heavily saturated and can hardly absorb any more water. According to the current weather forecast, the situation is expected to worsen over the Christmas holidays. A major flood with flooding of properties, streets or cellars is possible.

Bremerhaven was particularly affected. It was said that it would be impossible to safely experience the Christmas market. The market therefore remained closed, as was also the case in Bremen and Braunschweig. In the seaside city, school lessons were even canceled for Friday. In the evening, the cancellation of the Weser ferry from Bremerhaven was also reported due to the high water.

The storm also put a spanner in the works for visitors to the island of Norderney. The ferries to and from the island were canceled from 4:45 p.m. until Friday morning. East of Braunschweig, all access roads to the Elm Nature Park were closed until at least Saturday, according to the district of Helmstedt.

The Lower Saxony State Forests warned against entering forests. "Anyone who is drawn to the outdoors despite the wind and rain should avoid wooded areas and the vicinity of trees," said a spokesperson.

Severe storms are not unusual for this time of year, said meteorologist Mareike Pohling from the German Weather Service. "It's not an everyday situation, but it's also not unusual to have a storm in winter."

Water level forecast BSH DWD forecast Cross-state flood portal Weser ferry