BERLIN — Storms Luise and Manja swept across Germany over the weekend, bringing hurricane-force gusts, power cuts and widespread transport disruption, while the North Sea coast remained under threat from storm surges, The Local Germany reported in its Monday roundup.
Source: The Local Germany via EuropeSays, Oct 26
Around 10,000 households in Freiburg lost electricity after trees struck power lines and a metal roof was blown into a substation. Most supplies were restored on Sunday, although the university hospital temporarily limited its emergency department to life-threatening cases, The Local reported.
Source: The Local Germany via EuropeSays, Oct 26
In Nastätten, Rhineland-Palatinate, two men were seriously injured when a structure collapsed at a festival on Friday. Fallen trees and damaged overhead wires disrupted rail services elsewhere, roads were closed in the Harz region, and ferries to Heligoland and other islands were cancelled or restricted, The Local reported. A regional report said Heligoland ferry services were suspended until at least Tuesday, October 27, Pollar News reported.
Source: Pollar News, updated Oct 26
Warnings across most of the country
The German Weather Service (DWD) warned of storms and persistent rain across parts of the Black Forest, forecasting 40 to 60 litres of rain per square metre widely and up to 80 litres in some areas, with gusts of up to 120 km/h expected above 1,000 metres, Pollar News reported. Particle News, summarising the two successive lows, said Manja reached the North Sea and northern high ground by early Sunday with gusts locally between about 100 and 130 km/h, while the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH) issued storm-surge warnings for the coast.
Source: Particle News, updated Oct 25
Emergency crews handled dozens of incidents in North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony. A fresh storm-surge warning was in place on Monday morning, with another surge expected around midday. Conditions were expected to ease inland on Monday, although coastal and mountain areas remained exposed to strong winds, The Local reported. In Bremerhaven late on Sunday, the same storm system pushed a departing cruise ship into a berthed container ship — a separate incident reported in detail by Awaaz Punjab.
Source: The Local Germany via EuropeSays, Oct 26
What is solid
- Two successive storms, Luise from Friday and Manja by early Sunday, caused the weekend damage; Freiburg lost power for about 10,000 households and two men were seriously injured in Nastätten (The Local Germany; Particle News)
- DWD warnings covered most German districts and a Monday storm-surge warning remained in place for the North Sea coast (Particle News; The Local Germany)
What is only claimed
- Exact gust and rainfall totals vary by station and by report — 135 km/h on the Brocken is The Local's figure, while DWD forecasts cited by Pollar put gusts up to 120 km/h above 1,000 metres; both are reported as attributed figures, not a single settled maximum