Place almost “flooded” – countless damage: this is what the country looks like after a storm

The storm hit communities in the northern Waldviertel around 3 p.m. on Sunday. According to the fire brigade, about 80 percent of the buildings in Waldkirchen were damaged, some seriously. More than 250 firefighters were deployed to temporarily cover objects with tarpaulins. The work continued even during another thunderstorm with heavy rain.

The damage balance is not yet available
A total of 55 properties have been secured with tarpaulins so far, of which 90 are still open. “In addition to private residential buildings, farm buildings, stables and public buildings such as municipal offices and fire stations are particularly affected,” the district command announced. According to the information, an exact damage assessment is not yet available.

The state of Lower Austria promised aid from the disaster fund. “The most important thing is that no people were injured in these heavy storms,” emphasized state governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner (ÖVP). According to the state news service, the state government will take relief measures for the affected communities as early as Tuesday.

Rain, thunder and showers in the west
But the storm over Austria caused serious damage not only in Lower Austria, but also in the west of the country. A thunderstorm with heavy rain and showers hit parts of Tyrol late Sunday afternoon.

The lowlands were particularly affected, especially the Kufstein district. There were short power outages for 8,000 network customers in the municipalities of Kramsach, Radfeld, Brixlegg, Reith im Alpbachtal and Alpbach. In Rattenberg, water even entered the city centre. In Alpbach, a car was also hit by a tree and the driver was injured.

Hundreds of transformer stations without power
The storm left around a hundred transformer stations in the Kufstein district without power at peak times, according to grid operator Tinetz. By evening, most of the outages had been resolved. The cause of the power outage was apparently a heavy storm.

Smallest community almost ‘flooded’
Ratsberg, the smallest municipality in Austria, apparently had luck with adversity. Because it almost ‘flooded’. The cause was the large-scale power outage. “We are dependent on a pumping station with four pumps. The entire sewage system is connected to it. Because the station failed due to the power outage and it rained so much, the water in the city quickly rose to 50 to 60 centimeters high,” said Mayor Bernhard Freiberger. A catastrophe could only be prevented by quick action by the emergency services.

Residents cut off from the outside world
Meanwhile, a landslide occurred near an inn in the municipality of Eben am Achensee. The Achenseestraße (B 181) was blocked over a length of approximately 35 meters and a height of four meters. The mudslide caused the road to be moved and had to be completely closed in both directions. Several mudslides also occurred in Auffach, in the municipality of Wildschönau (Kufstein district). According to the council, numerous municipal roads were blocked by fallen trees, resulting in several residents being cut off from the outside world during the cleaning work.

There were also floods, mudslides and power outages in the state of Salzburg. Bischofshofen and Mühlbach/Hochkönig were hit.

Rain also at the beginning of the week
But what does the weather look like at the start of the week? In the north and east there will be some showers again in the afternoon and longer periods of sunshine can be expected here. In the south and west it is generally more cloudy, with locally heavy rain showers. Short thunderstorms occur in Carinthia and Styria. Afternoon temperatures 19 to 26 degrees, with the highest temperatures in Burgenland.