Lower Austrian company faces bankruptcy – 45 trucks under water: “The situation is a catastrophe”

It is not only the residents of Lower Austria who are complaining about the damage the storm has caused to their homes; the first reports from the infrastructure in Lower Austria also show the unimaginable extent of the damage.

“Everything, just everything, is under water. The entire production facility is under water, we now have to make sure that we can at least continue operations,” said the director of the Lower Austrian meat company AstroKalb, Thomas Maurovich, to the “Krone”. The well-known Austrian company has switched to emergency operation.

Millions of dollars in damage – 45 trucks underwater
The ongoing heavy storms in Austria have had a severe impact on the renowned meat processing company, which is considered the country’s largest veal specialist. The company, known for its high-quality veal, lamb and beef products, is completely under water due to the extreme weather and the resulting flooding.

Maurovich expects the damage to run into the millions. Not only was the area around the manufacturer with a fleet of 45 commercial vehicles severely damaged, “the production facility was also completely flooded from the inside with a maximum level of 1.80 meters,” according to the visibly desperate director.

The situation is devastating because the floods have also caused a power outage and the meat can no longer be refrigerated. The result: “We can throw away all the food,” says Maurovich.

A drop in the ocean, but in any case: the company has a good network in the region, “we help each other to keep production and delivery going as well as possible”, confirms the head of the meat company. Suppliers from the Netherlands are instructed to go directly to customers, others go to partner companies or are completely forwarded.

Only 200,000 euros insured
The safety of the operation is particularly regrettable. According to this coverage, the insurance only covers a maximum of 200,000 euros in the event of storm damage. “In the event of fire, this would have been very different, then at least two million euros would have been covered,” says AstroKalb.

The insured amount will probably not be enough: about 700,000 euros worth of goods were destroyed by the flood, and according to AstroKalb, the modern machines of the renowned company alone recorded a loss of 1.5 million euros. “Our last hope is a subsidy from the state and federal government, otherwise we do not know how we can cover this amount of damage,” Maurovich said.

Empty shelves in Vienna
Meanwhile, many customers in Viennese supermarkets are surprised that the shelves are completely empty, but this may not be directly related to delivery bottlenecks. What is behind it? “About 40 percent of the employees in our warehouse did not show up for work on Monday because they themselves were affected by the flooding,” says Spar spokeswoman Nicole Berkmann.

The storm disaster in parts of Austria caused employees to reorganize the delivery of goods. At the moment, activities are almost back to normal and all markets are being supplied. There are sufficient goods there, the supply is assured,” Berkmann explains.

According to its website, the company Wiesbauer Gourmet, also based in Reidling, has apparently been hit hard by the severe storm damage. At the request of the “Krone”, they did not want to comment on the current situation for the time being – the shock is apparently also deep there…