Storm "Zoltan" - Many operations due to fallen trees - train evacuated
Many fallen trees, an evacuated passenger train, a number of traffic accidents and prematurely closed Christmas markets: Storm "Zoltan" as well as continuous rain and thunderstorms left their mark in North Rhine-Westphalia on Thursday. This included damage to roofs and streams bursting their banks. Rail traffic was affected on several routes.
Near the small town of Willebadessen in the district of Höxter, a tree crashed onto a moving regional train. According to a police spokesperson, the train with around 200 passengers was unable to continue and had to be cleared on the open track. All passengers were uninjured, said the police spokesman. They were taken away from the railroad line by the emergency services in their fire engines and then treated at the town hall in Willebadessen.
There were dozens of police operations in the Höxter district alone as a result of the storm. A hazardous goods transporter crashed into a fallen tree on the B7 near Warburg. A car crashed into a tree on the B252 near Steinheim. There were two rear-end collisions at the scene of the accident. The police also reported an accident in which a trailer was blown over by a gust of wind while driving. The police spokesman also pointed out streams that overflowed their banks.
Deutsche Bahn reported several restrictions on its NRW routes. Due to several trees on the tracks in the Sauerland region, rail passengers had to switch to buses between Neuenrade and Fröndenberg. A fallen tree also had to be removed on the line between Hagen and Witten. Long-distance connections from the north to NRW were also affected: Numerous IC and ICE connections from Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony or Hamburg were subject to restrictions and cancellations, according to Deutsche Bahn.
In Bielefeld, 60 firefighters and technical relief workers were deployed to a horse farm due to the incessant rain. Because the sewage system and the fields around the farm, which is located in a hollow, were no longer able to absorb all the rainwater, the cellar there was flooded, said a spokesman for the fire department. At times, the water was more than one meter high on around 650 square meters and had to be pumped out with high-performance pumps.
The fire departments in Gladbeck, Dinslaken, Hattingen, Bochum and Münster, among others, also reported operations due to fallen trees. Due to the storm, the city of Cologne asked the operators of the Christmas markets to shut down operations early on Thursday. The Christmas market in Bielefeld was also canceled for Thursday due to the storm, according to the city's marketing department. Markets in Essen, Duisburg and Düsseldorf also closed as a precaution.
The German Weather Service had predicted stormy weather for Thursday. Wind speeds of up to 85 kilometers per hour were to be expected. Where thunderstorms pass through - and in the mountains - there could also be heavy squalls.
The district of Lippe warned of flooding due to continuous rain and storms. It expects water levels to rise further in the coming days, posing a risk of flooding for properties and roads in the immediate vicinity of watercourses. People living near bodies of water are therefore advised to take protective measures, such as laying out sandbags.
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The evacuated passenger train was a part of the railroad network in North Rhine-Westphalia. The storm caused several issues on rural roads, including a car crash into a tree near Steinheim. The fire department in Bielefeld was called to a horse farm due to flooding caused by the continuous rain. In Cologne, the city asked Christmas market operators to close early due to the weather conditions. The fire departments in various cities, such as Gladbeck and Münster, also reported operations due to fallen trees. Deutsche Bahn reported restrictions on its NRW routes, affecting long-distance connections from Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony, and Hamburg. The fire department in Warburg had to deal with a hazardous goods transporter that crashed into a fallen tree on the B7. The district of Lippe warned of potential flooding due to the continuous rain and storms.
Source: www.stern.de
