Thousands in action – hail, rain: Big cleanup after the supercell

Tyrol
In Tyrol, the districts of Imst and Innsbruck-Land were particularly affected by the consequences of the precipitation. In the capital, people prepared for a hundred-year flood. This 100-year flood was recorded Monday morning in Huben in the Ötztal. The B 186 Ötztal road was closed south of Oetz, the rear valley can only be reached from South Tyrol by land via the Timmelsjoch. In Tumpen in the Ötztal, 30 households had to be evacuated, in the Pitztal three houses were evacuated.

Between Umhausen and Längenfeld in the Ötztal near Köfels, the Ötztaler Ache tore away part of the valley road and the access road to the mountain village of Köfels was also destroyed. In the Stubaital, the Ruetz burst its banks in the morning, especially Neustift with the districts of Kampl and Neder was hit. In Innsbruck, the fire brigade decided to activate the mobile flood protection on the Sill. The city prepared for a 100-year flood of the Inn. In the end, the state capital was spared.

In the afternoon, the center of gravity of the precipitation shifted to the east. There was a civil defense alert in Schwaz and Kramsach in the Unterinntal – it remained until Tuesday morning. “We got off lightly,” summarized Tyrolean governor Anton Mattle.

Salzburgerland
The storm also hit Salzburg hard. Especially in the southern parts of the country, rivers and streams overflow their banks. On the night of Tuesday, the rain gradually stopped and the water level slowly dropped. In some places, the full extent of the damage was not apparent until daybreak.

In Bad Hofgastein, the Gasteiner Ache burst its banks. The volunteer fire brigade had to go to 75 locations and basements and underground parking garages were flooded all over the city. The famous waterfall of Bad Gastein became a brown stream. In the Pongau, the two largest communities were also affected. In Bischofshofen, the Salzach had flooded an entire neighborhood, ten houses were under water. In St. Johann, the industrial area and private houses were flooded.

Storms in the Salzburg region usually hit the Oberpinzgau first. Same this time. Salzach retention areas flooded in the towns of Mittersill, Neukirchen and Niedernsill. Parts of the Pinzgaubahn, which had already been destroyed by storms in 2021, were demolished again. Up to 130 liters of rain fell per square meter in the Rauris Valley. For a short time, the entire valley was inaccessible and retention basins overflowed. At the end of the valley, 50 people remained cut off from the outside world until Tuesday.

Vorarlberg
No other state brought the storm as much precipitation as Vorarlberg: from Saturday to Tuesday, a whopping 220 millimeters of rain fell in the municipality of Fraxern. Laterns (186 mm) and Schröcken (170 mm) also achieved record values.

No wonder then that the level of the Rhine on both sides of the border river was watched with eagle eyes. Although the Rhine flooded the foreland, Vorarlberg was far from being the flood of the century. The discharge volume peak on Monday afternoon was around 2000 cubic meters per second. Only from a value of more than 3100 cubic meters per second it would have become critical.

Outside the Rhine, however, the emergency services had plenty to deal with: flooded cellars, flooded underground car parks, landslides and flooded streets. Where paths usually wind through the meadows, you could only have come by boat. At least one thing benefited from the storm: the water level of Lake Constance. This returns to the normal level.