Paderobrn Severe storms with at least three tornadoes left more than 40 injured and millions in damage in eastern North Rhine-Westphalia. The city of Paderborn, where 43 people were injured, according to the police, is hardest hit. Some of them heavy, said a police spokesman on Saturday morning of the German Press Agency. A seriously injured person was flown to a hospital in Bielefeld.
The German Weather Service (DWD) confirmed three suspected tornado cases to the German Press Agency on Saturday. Accordingly, tornadoes occurred in Paderborn, Lippstadt and in Lütmarsen, a district of the city of Höxter. There were also other suspected tornado reports for Ratingen near Düsseldorf and from the Sauerland, which would have to be checked further.
The three confirmed tornadoes formed in connection with particularly strong thunderstorms, explained a DWD spokesman. They appeared on a small scale. He has not yet provided any information on the wind speeds.
There was also precipitation of sometimes 30 to 40 liters per square meter in a short time during the storm on Friday afternoon and evening. The thunderstorms passed relatively quickly. According to the DWD, hail also fell in some places during the storm. According to the DWD, the thunderstorm should move eastwards over Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania on Saturday.
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According to the police, extensive clean-up work is pending in the particularly affected city of Paderborn. Loose roof tiles, fallen scaffolding and fallen branches that crashed into windows – this is how a police spokesman described the damage in Paderborn. There was major damage to the building in a commercial area in the city. A spokesman for the Paderborn fire brigade initially did not want to comment on the current status on Saturday morning and referred to a press conference planned at short notice by the authorities in the morning.
According to information from the police authorities in the Soest district, there were probably no injuries in the severe storm in Lippstadt. There was no injury report, said a police spokesman on Saturday morning. Clean-up work continued. “Everything has to be cleaned up after such a mess,” he said, adding: “Many emergency services have been on the road and are still on the road.” It’s mainly about damage to roofs and trees that occurred on Friday. In the inner city of Lippstadt, areas are still closed for safety reasons.
The police authorities had already reported the destruction on Friday. The police in Paderborn spoke of a “swath of devastation”. Numerous roofs, cars and houses were destroyed, the damage should therefore be in the millions.
A dpa photographer reported on a devastated street, and the facade of a public parking garage had been destroyed. According to the police, the numerous injured people in Paderborn were hit by roof tiles and injured by falling trees.
There was also destruction in Lippstadt. Some areas have been cordoned off. The top of a church there fell down due to the force of the storm. In the meantime, around 120 people were trapped in a leisure pool because fallen trees blocked the entrance. According to the fire department, they were later freed.
In Central Franconia in Bavaria, 14 people, including several children, were injured when a wooden hut collapsed during the storm there. The accident happened on Friday evening in Spalt (Roth district) near the Großer Brombachsee. According to a police spokeswoman, in view of the storm approaching in Bavaria, several vacationers sought shelter in the approximately 85 square meter hut, which then tipped to the side and collapsed.
In Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland, there was no major damage despite heavy thunderstorms. Police and rescue workers reported only a few fallen trees, hail damage to cars and flooding of basements.
A 38-year-old man died in Rhineland-Palatinate when he suffered an electric shock when entering a flooded basement, which caused him to fall and probably hit his head, the police said. In the district of Bernkastel-Wittlich, five people were injured in a car accident on a rain-soaked country road, including a three-year-old child.
In Thuringia, late on Friday evening, a driver near Dittersdorf in the Saale-Orla district got off the road with his vehicle due to aquaplaning and crashed into a concrete wall, the police said. He and three passengers suffered minor injuries.
In Saxony, the band Rammstein interrupted their concert on Friday evening for half an hour due to a thunderstorm over Leipzig. 45 minutes into the show, people in the arena were asked to leave the stadium interior and seek shelter. After 15 minutes, the fans were allowed back inside.
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