Storm "Ziros" swept through eastern Germany: one victim, railway traffic disrupted

A storm "Ziros" passed through Berlin and Brandenburg in eastern Germany on Monday, killing one person and injuring several others. Urban railway traffic was restored after an interruption, UNN reports with reference to rbb24.

Details

One person died in Berlin and Brandenburg due to the low-pressure system Ziros, the Berlin Fire Department and the Northwest Regional Control Center reported.

According to the report, a tree fell on a moving car in Spandau Forest in Berlin, killing a woman inside.

Other people were injured in Berlin, some of them in critical condition. A cyclist was hit by a tree on Clayallee in Zehlendorf and suffered life-threatening injuries, a spokesman for the Berlin fire department said. In western Spandau, a tree fell on a car, also seriously injuring one person. Both were taken to the hospital. According to the fire department, a person in Tegel Forest suffered life-threatening injuries from falling branches and was taken to the hospital by helicopter.

The storm partially paralyzed train traffic in Berlin and Brandenburg starting Monday afternoon. Rail service was temporarily suspended due to fallen branches.

Long-distance and regional rail services in the Berlin-Brandenburg area were also affected. The important route between Berlin and Hamburg was temporarily closed but reopened in the early evening.

S-Bahn traffic resumed on Tuesday morning, but restrictions remain. The S-Bahn (suburban railway) reports that there are currently delays and cancellations on almost all lines. Only the Ringbahn (ring line) and line S47 are reportedly unaffected.

The Berlin fire department declared a state of emergency and counted more than 500 operations across the city within an hour and a half.

For example, preparations for the summer festival at the representation of the state of Lower Saxony in Berlin had to be briefly interrupted. Several umbrellas and other items fell in the open area. A large tree fell and damaged a fence in the popular Boxhagener Platz in Berlin-Friedrichshain.

At the Industry Day on the Euref campus in Schöneberg, participants were asked via public address to remain inside the building for safety reasons. According to an airport overview, there were delays at BER, the capital's airport. It was not reported whether the weather was the cause.

In eastern Brandenburg, the storm did not cause significant damage. According to the Oderland control center, there were over 200 fire department deployments due to fallen trees and branches. No one was injured. Rail traffic was disrupted, particularly on the RE1 line between Frankfurt (Oder) and Berlin.

According to the federal police, an S-Bahn commuter train in Strausberg hit a branch and stopped in the middle of the tracks. No one was injured.

On a rural road between Steinhefel and Hasenfelde in the Oder-Spree district, a van with a trailer was caught by a gust of wind and overturned on its side. The two passengers in the van suffered minor injuries. Due to yesterday's severe weather warning, the family garden and Eberswalde zoo were closed this afternoon as a precautionary measure, the city of Eberswalde reports.

In western Brandenburg, there were also numerous fire department calls on Monday due to the storm. According to the Brandenburg fire department control center, firefighters were called more than 350 times in Brandenburg an der Havel, Potsdam-Mittelmark, and Teltow-Fläming alone. Due to hurricane gusts in Brandenburg an der Havel, several trees and branches fell on houses and cars. Two cars were destroyed, and the roofs and facades of two houses were damaged. In the Oberhavel district, more than 140 operations were carried out, and in Potsdam, 120. No one was injured.

In southern Brandenburg, fire services were very busy from 3:00 PM to 10:00 PM, a spokesman for the Lausitz control center told rbb on Tuesday morning.

According to a preliminary assessment, the control center counted a total of 207 storm-related operations, mostly in the Dahme-Spreewald district. All of them involved fallen trees, some of which also fell on parked vehicles. However, there was no serious damage. No one was injured.

Three fires had to be extinguished. In two cases, the forest was burning, presumably due to lightning strikes after power lines fell.

According to the control center, the statistics on the consequences of the storm are not yet final. The final figures will be compiled over the next few days.

The German Meteorological Service stated that the highest wind speed was measured on Monday at the Free University of Berlin at 108 kilometers per hour. This corresponds to wind force 11 and hurricane gusts, according to a spokesman. Wind speeds of over 100 kilometers per hour were also measured in Berlin-Tempelhof.

Later on Monday evening, the storm and wind subsided. On Monday, temperatures had already dropped significantly below 30 degrees Celsius after a very hot Sunday, and on Tuesday, meteorologists expect temperatures between 20 and 24 degrees Celsius.

Addition

Strong storms are relatively rare in Berlin, unlike, for example, in northern Germany. In October 2017, a woman died in Berlin during storm "Xavier" after being hit by a falling tree.

In July 2002, a state of emergency was declared in Berlin due to the devastating storm "Anita". Eight people died in the capital and Brandenburg, and about 40 were injured when hurricane-force winds of up to 152 kilometers per hour swept through the city. Among the victims were two teenagers.