Weekend of storms kills four, injures 100
Four people were killed and over a hundred injured as heavy electrical storms lashed Germany over the weekend. Many areas sustained severe structural damage causing power cuts and disruption to train services.
A 24 year-old woman was killed in Bavaria when a tree fell on her car on Saturday evening, bringing the death count from recent storms to four. Three women golfers were killed by a lightning strike on Friday in Hessen. A fourth woman remains in a critical condition in hospital said a police spokesman on Sunday.
Over a hundred people were injured nationwide in the storms - many of them while attending outdoor events. Fifty-one festival goers were hurt and nine sustained serious injuries when a single lightning bolt struck a mast at the "With Full Force" open air heavy metal festival in northern Saxony.
A bolt of lightning struck the middle of the festival site early on Sunday morning, where the 30,000 heavy metal fans had been forced to find what shelter they could. Emergency services spent several hours at the scene treating those who had been sheltering in a cocktail bar near where the lightning struck.
Another festival in Baden-Württemberg had to be halted on Sunday after wind ripped tents from their moorings and at least ten festival goers were injured by flying debris. A further 18 were injured at a Volksfest in Bavaria when branches were ripped off trees by the high winds and thrown into the crowd.
High winds and heavy rain caused millions of Euros worth of damage and injured at least 38 in Baden-Württemberg, according to the state Interior Ministry in Stuttgart. Trees and electricity pylons were toppled in the storm resulting in power cuts, transport disruption and train lines being closed.
Northern Germany was also hit hard by the storm, yet luckily nobody was hurt. Between 10pm and 4am on Saturday evening the German weather service DWD recorded 8135 lightning strikes in the Berlin area alone.
And the weather service says more is on the way. Weather warnings have been issued for south east Bavaria, which is expected to be hit by heavy showers and storms on Sunday evening.
DAPD/The Local/jlb
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A 24 year-old woman was killed in Bavaria when a tree fell on her car on Saturday evening, bringing the death count from recent storms to four. Three women golfers were killed by a lightning strike on Friday in Hessen. A fourth woman remains in a critical condition in hospital said a police spokesman on Sunday.
Over a hundred people were injured nationwide in the storms - many of them while attending outdoor events. Fifty-one festival goers were hurt and nine sustained serious injuries when a single lightning bolt struck a mast at the "With Full Force" open air heavy metal festival in northern Saxony.
A bolt of lightning struck the middle of the festival site early on Sunday morning, where the 30,000 heavy metal fans had been forced to find what shelter they could. Emergency services spent several hours at the scene treating those who had been sheltering in a cocktail bar near where the lightning struck.
Another festival in Baden-Württemberg had to be halted on Sunday after wind ripped tents from their moorings and at least ten festival goers were injured by flying debris. A further 18 were injured at a Volksfest in Bavaria when branches were ripped off trees by the high winds and thrown into the crowd.
High winds and heavy rain caused millions of Euros worth of damage and injured at least 38 in Baden-Württemberg, according to the state Interior Ministry in Stuttgart. Trees and electricity pylons were toppled in the storm resulting in power cuts, transport disruption and train lines being closed.
Northern Germany was also hit hard by the storm, yet luckily nobody was hurt. Between 10pm and 4am on Saturday evening the German weather service DWD recorded 8135 lightning strikes in the Berlin area alone.
And the weather service says more is on the way. Weather warnings have been issued for south east Bavaria, which is expected to be hit by heavy showers and storms on Sunday evening.
DAPD/The Local/jlb
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