Tense flood situation after storms in Austria: Lower Austria is a disaster area and a dam could further aggravate the situation.
Vienna – The storms, flooding and the unexpected onset of winter have Austria firmly in their grip. The massive amounts of rain are causing disaster alerts, especially in the north and east of the Alpine country. In the run-up to the storms, there were fears of a flood of the century “like in the Ahr Valley”. The whole of Lower Austria was the first federal state to be declared a disaster area on Sunday morning. In addition, the widespread rainfall is pushing reservoirs and dams to their limits in many places – including the Ottenstein reservoir in the Waldviertel.
Floods and storms in Austria cause disaster alert: reservoir reaches limit
After the storm, the persistent rainfall and the threat of the flood of the century in Austria, disaster alerts were declared in 42 municipalities on Saturday evening and in two other districts in Lower Austria early in the morning due to the risk of flooding. Many of the municipalities are located on the banks of the Kamp or the Danube. “The hydrological forecasts are becoming more intense and more severe,” said Deputy Governor Stephan Pernkopf in Tulln. Further evacuations are being prepared, with severe flooding expected particularly on the Kamp. Landslides are also possible in some places because the ground is completely soaked.
While the flood situation in Germany is still tense, an expert is calming things down and predicting a crazy change in the weather. The flood situation at the Ottenstein reservoir is particularly precarious at the moment, and despite all the preparations, it is threatening to overflow. “Over the past twelve hours, large parts of the state have been over-watered,” explains Lower Austria’s deputy governor Stephan Pernkopf at oe24.atIn view of the storms announced in Austria, water has been drained since Monday to create more space, said the spokesman for the energy supplier EVN, according to heute.at.
Storm in Austria: 100-year flood forecast at the Danube tributary – reservoir expected to overflow
It has not helped much with the amount of rain caused by the storms in Austria, as experts expect the Ottenstein reservoir to overflow as early as Sunday afternoon. The emergency services are preparing to bring people to safety as a precaution. Further evacuations are being prepared after several people had to be rescued from their homes during the night. Severe flooding is expected, particularly in the Kamp area.
An overflow would cause significant flooding on the Kamp, a tributary of the Danube. According to current forecasts, the values for a 100-year flood could be exceeded in the lower reaches of the river. A 20- to 30-year flood is expected on the Danube.
Storms and floods: situation remains dramatic – massive flooding throughout the country
“Hydrologists are expecting extremely heavy rainfall in the next few hours, up to 60 millimetres in the next six hours in central Austria and up to 40 millimetres across the whole of Lower Austria. This means that there is already and will continue to be massive flooding throughout the country,” Pernkopf (ÖVP) told the news agency APA “Avoid unnecessary journeys and trips! This will endanger you and possibly also the emergency services,” said the state vice president.
While an entire village was swallowed up by the water masses in Bavaria, the effects of the flooding were also clearly felt in other parts of Austria. During the night of Sunday, train traffic on the western route between Amstetten and St. Valentin in the west of the state was suspended.
100 roads in Lower Austria are currently closed. Some areas in Styria are also currently inaccessible. And in Vienna, the subway had to be partially closed while the fire brigade was deployed to a large number of operations.
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