Drizzle and freezing temperatures are making roads dangerously slippery in parts of Germany. There have already been crashes in some places, and in the capital there is now talk of a state of emergency.
Berlin/Potsdam – Dangerous ice posed challenges for pedestrians and especially drivers in parts of Germany on Thursday evening.
The fire department in Berlin spoke on the online platform X, formerly Twitter, of a state of emergency and high capacity utilization. All available ambulances are in use. There were several traffic accidents in Potsdam because of the black ice, as the fire department there also announced on X.
In Lower Saxony, too, people had to prepare for slippery streets and sidewalks in the evening. An official warning of significant slippery conditions due to freezing rain applies in a strip between Uelzen and Göttingen across the Hanover region to Osnabrück and southern Emsland. Only the north of Lower Saxony is not affected.
Weather service calls for caution
The German Weather Service warned from the afternoon of an increased risk of slippery conditions due to freezing wet conditions. Caution was called for. In Berlin, the population was informed via the “Nina” warning app: “Striking slipperiness” can be expected throughout the city, especially on the sidewalks. It was said that people should avoid avoidable outdoor activities.
The DWD experts also warned of the risk of black ice for parts of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. The region between the Harz and the Altmark in Saxony-Anhalt, but also the north of Saxony and the southern Harz in Thuringia, was particularly affected, said a DWD spokesman on Thursday evening.
In North Rhine-Westphalia, there have already been a dozen accidents without personal injuries in the city of Hamm alone due to slippery conditions. There were also warnings in the Borken district, in Paderborn and in Münster, where a farmers' demonstration with around 1,900 tractors took place in the evening. The city of Oberhausen also warned drivers. Gritters are on the way. “Please drive carefully,” it said.
The German Weather Service announced that it could also be slippery on Friday morning due to freezing drizzle or snow grit. dpa
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