Intense weather disturbances impact certain regions of Austria.
The weather got pretty heavy in Austria overnight on Sunday, leading to flooding and damage in various areas. The European elections were momentarily disrupted as a result. Ubelbach, in Styria, had to shut down a section of the Pyhrn motorway (A9) due to a landslide - it was predicted the road would stay closed till Monday. Quite a few folks got evacuated from Ubelbach, too, as per O3 radio via its online service X. The households of those affected were completely cut off from the outside world.
A number of voting centers for the European elections were made inaccessible or even destroyed due to the bad weather. Deutschfeistritz, north of Graz, and the Hartberg-Fürstenfeld district reported affected polling stations per APA agency. The local admin bodies responded "really promptly" and moved the polling stations.
In Deutschfeistritz, Eggersdorf, and the northern part of Graz's Andritz district, a civil defense alert was triggered, only to be lifted by the morning. The Styrian Warnzentrale, as a precaution, advised people to stay cautious. The authorities requested folks to keep clear of the banks of water sources and cellars in places affected by heavy rain.
Burgenland saw a particularly involved district - Oberwart. Consequently, the help of the Bundesheer was requested. For the district's entirety, a state of disaster was announced.
Landslides ensued in Tyrol because of heavy rain and hail on Saturday nights. The police mainly worked in southern Lower Austria on pumping operations. There were 1700 emergency workers at work in Upper Austria after the storms.
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Despite the severe weather conditions, Austria was expected to participate in EU polling stations on Monday. However, heavy storms had caused damage to some of these polling stations, particularly in Deutschfeistritz and the Hartberg-Fürstenfeld district. Austria's neighboring country, Germany, also faced challenges, asScholz aimed to expel severe offenders, as mentioned in a recent article.
