Floods and snowstorms. Weather breakdown in Austria

The most difficult weather situation is in Lower Austria, where after clearing up overnight, heavy rain is again occurring. Small and medium-sized reservoirs in this region have already overflowed their banks. Firefighters are still working on site.

According to experts from the Federal Institute for Geology, Geophysics, Climatology and Meteorology, the amount of rainfall in some regions of Austria has significantly exceeded the average level of rainfall in September in the past few days. In Weyer (Steyr-Land district), more than 185 liters per square meter have already fallen between Thursday and Saturday afternoon. Due to the ongoing rainfall, the situation is worsening in many places. In the municipality of Schwertberg, the situation along the Aist river reached its peak on Saturday evening. The river level is still rising and residents of the valley have been warned of the danger so that they can react quickly. The alarm levels have also been exceeded on the Voeckla, Ager, Traun, Alm, Krems and Enns rivers in the south of the country. The Danube is constantly rising. The alarm level has already been exceeded in Mauthausen, and in Linz it is expected to do so during the day on Sunday. As a precaution, flood warnings were issued in Mauthausen, Grein and Saxen on Saturday evening. Flood barriers have also been erected in Langenstein. Warning levels have also been exceeded on the Enns and Inn rivers, and the water level is constantly rising. For this reason, the installation of mobile flood barriers in Schärding am Inn began on Friday. In Upper Austria, 330 fire brigades were involved in over 600 rescue operations in the last 24 hours. Over 4,500 firefighters were involved. According to the Upper Austrian State Fire Service, the challenge is the total number of operations throughout the entire state. An increased level of operational readiness was maintained at night.

The peak wave is reaching Vienna. The situation in the Austrian capital is becoming increasingly serious. In the past 24 hours, the Vienna fire department has been called out to more than 1,100 interventions related to heavy rainfall. In several places, the Danube, which flows through Vienna, burst its banks and flooded nearby houses, which had to be evacuated. According to the fire department, some buildings can only be reached by boat. People had to be brought to safety in the early morning hours. The fire department continues to expect a very large number of interventions and has called in additional personnel. At the same time, rescuers are appealing to residents to avoid unnecessary trips and spending time outdoors, especially near trees and parks. Due to the continuous and heavy rainfall, some lines of the Vienna metro have also been suspended. Due to the deteriorating situation, the authorities declared a state of emergency for the entire Lower Austria on Sunday morning. “The situation is deteriorating very quickly due to the heavy rainfall,” a representative of the Austrian state government told APA. Lower Austria's deputy governor, Stephan Pernkopf, said evacuations had to be carried out overnight; many transport routes, both rail and road, were flooded or blocked. Stephan Pernkopf warned of “massive flooding”.

After the avalanche in Karwendel on Saturday, the search for the missing tourist has not been resumed. It concerns a man aged 70-72, who was part of a 27-person German hiking group. Due to heavy snowfall, helicopters were unable to carry out the rescue operation, so around 50 rescuers with dogs set off into the mountains on foot. Due to heavy snowfall on Saturday, the search was suspended at around 1 p.m. It is to be continued on Sunday, but only if the weather improves and the avalanche threat decreases. One of the rescuers was injured during the operation.