Wednesday 23 June 2021

“Perfectly Chopped”
Heavy rain in Austria and Bavaria

Car windows are broken, house roofs are pierced and entire fields are “absolutely cut down”: parts of Austria are hit by severe storms the size of hailstones. The super cell is already raging in Bavaria, where the fire department speaks of the “event of the century”.

Hurricanes damaged many buildings and cars in Austria, accompanied by large hail. A spokesman for the Austrian Ola insurance company on ORF said agriculture alone caused a record loss of 22 million euros within 24 hours.

The storm, accompanied by hail the size of a chicken’s egg, severely damaged 40,000 hectares of arable, fruit and vegetable crops as well as grassland. “Within a few minutes, agricultural crops were completely harvested,” a spokesman said. On Tuesday evening, thunderstorms had moved into Salzkammergut and Upper Austria.

According to the “Standard” report, the storm rolled across the country in two waves. Accordingly, a thunderstorm super cell had already formed over Bavaria, which later moved south.

Heavy hail has already occurred in Bavaria. The storms reached there especially violently in the Munich area. The entire roads were partially covered by a layer of hail 50 cm thick. The local fire brigade spoke of the “event of the century”.

Snow plows were sometimes used in Austria to clear roads of hail. The fire brigade and other assistants set out on multiple missions. According to “standard” information, about 2000 firefighters were on duty. In the video, it can be seen how the roads turn into rivers due to heaps of water. Rail traffic was also disrupted. Many trees were uprooted by the storm.