Due to the heavy snowfall, many fire brigade operations were carried out in Carinthia.
©APA/EXPA/JFK (Subject)
Fallen trees, traffic accidents, power outages: A total of 160 fire brigades were on duty in Carinthia on Tuesday due to heavy snowfall.
Heavy snow at times caused numerous trees to fall and local roads as well as state and central roads were blocked. Additionally, wintry driving conditions led to 25 traffic accidents throughout the day. Several people were injured, the Carinthian State Firefighters Association said in a statement Wednesday.
Snowfall in Carinthia prompts 160 fire brigade operations
A total of 92 fire department personnel were involved in the rescue operation. The main deployment scenario is live weather effects (106 deployments) followed by traffic accidents and 25 deployments in vehicle safety. A total of 1,120 firefighters were deployed. Geographically, the focus of activity was in the central Carinthian region and further east. The rain subsided in the evening and operational conditions stabilized again by midnight.
Traffic accidents, 2,000 homes without power due to winter driving conditions
Two traffic accidents occurred in the Klagenfurt-Land district due to the cold weather. In Pörtschach am Wörthersee, two people were injured in a motorcycle accident. At Ferlach, a car with summer tires fell over a wall ledge and landed on its roof. Three people were injured.
Due to the snow, about 2,000 homes were without electricity on Tuesday, said Robert Schmarans of Kärnten Netz GmbH in response to an APA request. Over 200 homes were still without power overnight, and 50 homes were still without power Wednesday afternoon.
Snow is no mess in Salzburg
In Salzburg, the rain turned to sleet around 6 a.m. and resulted in “sugar-covered” meadows. After a while the snow disappeared again. Neither the city nor the state of Salzburg is a mess of snow on the streets. As a spokesperson explained in response to an APA request this morning, the Salzburg State Fire Brigade Command has not yet registered any operations due to winter conditions.
Some alpine valleys were hotter than the city of Salzburg on Wednesday morning. For example, in the Castine valley, the grasslands were still green at three degrees Celsius. The snow line there was 1,200 meters above sea level. According to Geosphere Austria, the snowfall threshold across the country on Wednesday will generally be below 1,000 meters above sea level.
