"Zoltan" brings masses of water, railroad chaos and photo opportunities

Storm depression - "Zoltan" brings masses of water, railroad chaos and photo opportunities

Storm "Zoltan" has largely receded after causing a lot of disorder on the roads and railways in northern Germany on Friday morning. Rail travelers in particular had to be patient, some ferries in the north did not run and the subway trains in Hamburg were slower. Three people were injured in their cars on the roads in Schleswig-Holstein. The storm surge reached its highest level in Hamburg before midday - 3.33 meters were measured at the St. Pauli gauge. The fish market, Elbe promenade and Hafencity were therefore flooded, in some cases waist-deep.

However, just a few hours after the peak was reached, the Hamburg police were able to give the all-clear. After the severe storm surge, the Interior Ministry was satisfied: "We were very well prepared and managed the situation very well," said a spokesperson. Several hundred men and women from the police and fire department were deployed in Hamburg alone due to the flooding and the storm.

In the evening, the Hamburg fire department spoke of 200 storm and water-related operations without injuries. The main task here was to clear fallen trees and branches from the roadways and to collect loose bricks and scaffolding tarpaulins. In addition, an anchorage of the Alster fir platform on the Binnenalster at Jungfernstieg was torn in the morning. A tree crashed onto a house in Hamburg-Langenhorn. No one was injured. According to the environmental authority, people should still be careful when entering forests and parks in the coming days.

The police and fire department also had their hands full in Schleswig-Holstein. They were called out to more than 670 operations due to the storm. Three people were injured: In the Schleswig-Flensburg district, a person was seriously injured in Fahrdorf because he drove his car into a tree lying on the road. On the B200 in Janneby, a truck tipped onto its side and skidded into a ditch - the driver was slightly injured. In Husum, a tree fell onto a moving car and slightly injured the driver.

The storm had a huge impact on train services. Many travelers were unable to get off the train and countless train cancellations were listed on the display boards in the stations. Long-distance and local services were affected throughout Germany - but the main focus was on the north.

From here, there were initially no express trains to cities such as Hanover, Kassel, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Basel and Munich in the morning. The situation eased a little in the afternoon, closures were largely lifted, but there were still many delays. For the weekend, Deutsche Bahn was expecting high capacity utilization. However, booked tickets can be used for other routes with the same destination.

The subway trains in Hamburg were only running half as fast until the early afternoon due to the storm. According to Hochbahn, traffic was largely stable, with occasional delays or brief line closures due to falling trees. In the Elbe area, bus services were limited due to the flooding.

However, "Zoltan" not only disrupted plans on land, but also on the water. A few examples: There was a special timetable on the Föhr-Amrum line, and the Hallig line was completely suspended on Friday due to the storm. Ferries between Pellworm and Nordstrand were canceled in the morning and the ferry schedule between Rømø in Denmark and the North Sea island of Sylt was adjusted.

On the coast, the water rose most strongly at the Eider barrage near Tönning. A water level of 2.51 meters above mean high water (MHW) was measured there, which is considered a severe storm surge. It remained stormy in the coastal area on Friday. After briefly calming down during the course of the day, heavy squalls with wind speeds of around 100 kilometers per hour were expected again in the evening, according to the German Weather Service.

In Hamburg, the first two severe storm surges of the year are now expected to be followed by slightly higher flooding. "We are unlikely to reach storm surge level - as it looks at the moment," said a spokeswoman for the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH).

Due to the forecast for a severe storm surge, the Hamburg Interior Authority had set up a central disaster team. In the morning, sirens were sounded along the Elbe as well as messages via the warning apps and on social media to warn of the storm surge.

In any case, there was plenty for onlookers to watch along the banks of the Elbe in Hamburg - including some sunny moments. After all, "Zoltan" brought a wild mixture of storms, blue skies with sunshine, sleet showers and constant rain to the north.

Hundreds of Hamburg residents and tourists took advantage of the heavy storm surge on the Elbe to take a pre-Christmas trip to the fish market. Along the promenade below the St. Pauli harbor steps, they watched as the last cars were driven or towed from the already flooded parking areas on the riverbank.

The fish auction hall was completely submerged by the floodwaters. In Große Elbstraße behind it, which is located in front of the large flood gate at the fish market, only half of the bus stop signs were still sticking out of the water. The Elbe reached right up to the facades of the houses at the fish market with their numerous stores and restaurants.

It wasn't necessarily nice to look at the flooding, "but it was very impressive," said 70-year-old Gudrun Wetzel, who had come to the promenade at the fish market with her two grandchildren. But she was not worried. "The flood gate is closed. And besides, Hamburg has the necessary infrastructure and is well prepared for such situations."

Before the two severe storm surges on Thursday and Friday, the Elbe had last broken the mark for severe storm surges in January and February 2022, according to the BSH. In February 2022, there was even a very severe storm surge in the tidally influenced area of the Elbe due to the storm depression "Zeynep". At that time, water levels of 3.75 meters above mean high water were measured.

Information from Deutsche Bahn on the effects of the storm Links to the ferries on the North Sea