Airborne Assistance – Helicopters have to clear snow

Date:

Although the situation in snowy Carinthia is slowly improving, several helicopters have been in action since 10 a.m. to clear the high-voltage lines of snow. But the “snow” operation turned out to be difficult!

About 3,800 households in Central and Lower Carinthia are still without power due to the snow. To restore power, Kelag hired private helicopters. “These serve primarily to ensure that our technicians can work as safely as possible,” explains Schmaranz. “But the helicopters can also be used for so-called ‘downwashing’, in which the lines and routes are blown away by the suction power of the rotors. If this can be done without risk, we will continue to ensure the power supply.”

Poor visibility causes problems
After some starting problems due to the fog, one helicopter went to work, two had to remain on the ground due to poor visibility. “We started around 10 a.m. in St. Veit and we have now cleared all power lines in the Saualm area from snow,” reports Norbert Stromberger of Kärnten Netz, who is coordinating the operation with the pilots. According to Kelag, flights have already been made to Hüttenberg and Mölbling. On the one hand, one orients oneself on the disturbance map of the Kelag, focusing mainly on those parts of Carinthia where the lake has snowed.

Such an operation requires a certain instinct, because the helicopter flies about 2 meters above the clearance line to the right and left of the stricken lines. “We’ll probably fly until about 5pm!” Stromberger said.

How’s the weather?
Meteorologist Christoph Matela from the weather service UBIMET explains in which parts of Carinthia the most centimeters of fresh snow have been measured and what the future looks like. In terms of precipitation, the highest amount of fresh snow was recorded in the areas of the Karawanken (50-70 cm), the Pack and the Koralpe at the highest altitudes up to 100 cm. In the valleys of Klagenfurt and Villach, 18-20 cm of fresh snow fell in the past 24 hours. Unfortunately, the Lavanttal and Wolfsberg went empty-handed – it usually rained here.

When asked how the temperature would hold up for the rest of the week and whether the snow would stay with us, the meteorologist Matela replied: “In higher layers, but also in the lowlands, temperatures will remain constant around zero degrees until the weekend. !”

Source: Krone

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Share post:

Subscribe

Popular

More like this
Related