Hurricane gusts, power outages – the weather service warns of stormy Sunday

Parts of Germany have to prepare for a stormy Sunday - and it can be quite dangerous. An official warning of squalls and severe squalls was in effect on Sunday morning for larger areas in the north, central, west and southwest.

According to forecasts from the German Weather Service (DWD), winds at heights above 600 meters can reach speeds of up to 90 kilometers per hour. “Severe gusts of wind of around 100 kilometers per hour must be expected in exposed locations,” it said. In areas that are not so high up, speeds of up to 70 kilometers per hour are possible. According to the weather service, such wind speeds can cause branches to break and objects to fly around. Furniture that is not tied down outside should be secured and covers secured.

According to the DWD, the wind is expected to increase again after a short break as the day progresses. Severe storms, including hurricane-like gusts or hurricane-force winds, can be expected on the North Sea and at higher altitudes. The wind is not expected to subside until Monday night.

Due to the storm, there was a large-scale power outage in Freiburg and the region. The university hospital was therefore no longer able to treat all emergencies in the emergency room. Only life-threatening emergencies should come to the clinic, according to an Instagram post from the clinic. Other patients should therefore switch to the surrounding emergency rooms and emergency practices. Regular clinic operations have now been able to resume.

Several thousand households in the city and the Dreisamtal were temporarily without power, a police spokesman said. The strong winds caused a metal roof to fly into a substation in the Littenweiler district of Freiburg in the morning and caused a short circuit. Most households were back online by mid-morning.

A severe weather warning has been in effect for parts of the Black Forest since last night. The experts at the German Weather Service (DWD) expect, among other things, hurricane-like gusts of up to 120 kilometers per hour and heavy rainfall of up to 80 liters per square meter.

Meanwhile, the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency warned of a storm surge on the German North Sea coast. On Monday night, the flood on the East Frisian coast and in the Elbe area will be 1.5 to 2 meters higher than the mean flood, in the Weser area around 1.5 meters and on the North Frisian coast 2 to 2.5 meters higher. In Hamburg, the water at the St. Pauli gauge is expected to rise to 2 meters above mean high water at around 4 a.m. on Monday morning.