Severe Hailstorm Hit Waldviertel: Fire Departments in Major Operation

A storm with hail and enormous amounts of rain hit several communities in the district of Waidhofen a.d. Thaya on Easter Monday evening. Basements and streets were flooded, water entered residential buildings, reported the district fire brigade command.

Storm hit six communities in the district of Waidhofen a.d. Thaya

In some places, there was so much ice on the roads that vehicles got stuck and traffic came to a standstill. 165 firefighters were on duty until the night hours. No one was injured.

The severe storm front passed over the Waldviertel district shortly after 7:00 p.m. In Waidhofen a.d. Thaya, Waidhofen a.d. Thaya-Land, Thaya, Kautzen, Dobersberg, and Raabs a.d. Thaya, the fire brigades were called to flooded basements, muddy roads, and displaced manhole covers.

Basements and streets flooded, up to half a meter of hail ice

According to the district command, the main focus of the operation was in the community of Thaya. The enormous masses of ice had clogged channels, preventing the large amounts of rainwater from draining away, turning several streets into raging streams. Basements had to be pumped out and manholes cleared. The ice layer was up to half a meter high in the village of Großgerharts.

In Buchbach in the community of Waidhofen an der Thaya-Land, enormous amounts of rain and small-grained hail also fell within a few minutes. According to the fire brigade, private rain gauges recorded more than 40 liters per square meter in just 25 minutes in some places. The masses of water, along with mud and debris, shot from the surrounding fields into the village and threatened to flood a residential building, and a state road was partially relocated.

In Merkengersch in the market town of Dobersberg, a basement was flooded, causing a heating oil tank to float. The B36 was temporarily flooded. In Riegers, the emergency services had to clear a state road of mud and debris.

(APA/Red)

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