Violent storms caused severe damage in parts of Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse overnight. At least one person was killed and other people were injured. Several buildings were partially destroyed.
In Waldorf, Rhineland-Palatinate, a woman was hit by a falling tree and fatally injured. Another woman suffered serious injuries, the police said. The two women, aged 58 and 47, were reportedly walking together when the storm hit and they sought shelter in a covered seating area. When a nearby tree was uprooted by the storm and fell onto the seating area, both women were hit. The fifty-eight-year-old died at the scene of the accident, a police spokesman said. The forty-seven-year-old was taken to a hospital.
The storm in the evening damaged numerous houses in Hesse. In Wetzlar (Lahn-Dill district), around 60 houses are affected, the fire department announced. The damage ranges from individual missing roof tiles to a complete roof covering. In some cases, parts of the roof flew up to 100 meters, it said in a statement. Giessener Straße is no longer accessible until further notice.
According to the police, houses in Solms in the Lahn-Dill district are also affected. A spokesman said a wind storm was probably responsible for the destruction. A tornado is another word for a tornado. There is currently no confirmation of this from the German Weather Service (DWD). In some cases in Solms, entire roof trusses were raised and some houses were uninhabitable, said the spokesman.
Numerous storm operations
In Laubach (Giessen district), a fallen tree damaged a gas tank in a residential building. The police said early in the morning that there was a fire brigade operation because gas was leaking. The spokesman explained that there was no danger to the population. Nevertheless, the area within a radius of 200 meters was cleared.
According to the information, the tank should be pumped out. The residents were taken to a community center for the duration of the work. The population was informed via the NINA warning app. Residents should avoid the affected area and not throw away lit cigarettes or matches.
In Höhr- Grenzhausen in the Westerwald district, the storm tore walls out of houses. At least two structures were affected, said a dpa reporter on site. There was damage from falling parts of the facade and flying objects. And trees had fallen everywhere. In the municipality of Bannberscheid (Westerwaldkreis), parts of the facade of the Aubachhalle were blown away. In addition, there was a large-scale power outage on site. A truck overturned on the A61 due to squalls.
50 missions in Frankfurt and 37 in Wiesbaden
In Wiesbaden, a “short but violent storm” led to 37 missions, the city announced. This mostly involved fallen trees, broken branches and other storm-related danger areas. In some cases, parked vehicles and street lights were also damaged.
In Offenbach, the wind blew steel plates from a construction site onto a street. As a precautionary measure, additional panels were removed from the site using cranes on Thursday morning. Berliner Straße is therefore closed between Goethestrasse and the Kaiserlei S-Bahn stop. It is not yet possible to predict how long the work will last.
As the Frankfurt fire department announced, the storm front led to more than 50 missions between 8:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. There is a lot of property damage, including damaged cars.
Due to repairs on the tracks, there are currently still disruptions on the ICE route between Siegburg/Bonn and Montabaur. Connections between Frankfurt and Cologne are particularly affected. Because objects are lying on the route, there are no stops at the Offenbach Kaiserlei S-Bahn stop.
Other federal states also affected
Storms are also said to have caused damage in other parts of Germany. The DWD, for example, confirmed that there was a tornado in Fürstenwalde/Spree in Brandenburg. A roof was ripped off and trees fell, according to the European Severe Weather Database website.
In Kronach in Bavaria, a shooting festival with 3,500 guests had to be partially evacuated due to severe storms. According to police, several cars were damaged in Lower Franconia in the evening's storm.
After the turbulent night, people in Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate do not have to expect any further thunderstorms or storms today. Occasionally there will be showers, and sometimes the sun will even appear in the afternoon, as the DWD announced. It gets between 22 and 27 degrees.
According to the DWD, there will be more rain and thunderstorms from Friday afternoon - there is a risk of severe weather, especially heavy rain is possible. This goes on through the night. There will also be isolated showers or short thunderstorms on Saturday.
