Tornado causes severe damage in Solms and Wetzlar

Stefan Schäffl is standing at his house in Solms (Lahn-Dill district) and can't believe it. “I don’t even know where to start cleaning up,” says the 63-year-old. Tears blur his view of his tornado-ravaged property. His cars are broken, the greenhouse has blown away, his house is damaged, and the roof of the neighboring house is lying on the sidewalk.

“Everything was spinning, stuff was blowing up,” is how he describes the violent storm. “I held on to the railing so I wouldn’t fly away.” He was then able to escape into an outbuilding.

The German Weather Service (DWD) in Offenbach is still analyzing how strong the tornado that occurred in the Wetzlar area on Wednesday evening was. One thing is certain: it hit a number of houses with full force. Many people cannot return to their homes for the time being. According to initial findings, no one was injured.

According to the fire department, around 60 houses were damaged in the Münchholzhausen district of Wetzlar. Some parts of the roof flew up to 100 meters. The damage ranged from individual missing roof tiles to completely covered roofs.

According to mayor Katharina Didlapp, around a dozen houses were hit in Solms, about 15 kilometers away. The roofs of several were covered. The amount of damage cannot yet be quantified, said the mayor. “But it’s immense.”

The morning after the tornado, the affected area in the center of the Solms district of Oberndorf is still closed, and a few onlookers are milling about in front of the affected houses. “This should be my roof,” says the affected homeowner Zafer Baglan, pointing to a pile of rubble that lies in the middle of a garden about 20 meters from his house.

He remembers that he was initially surprised the evening before by the strange, minute-long noises. “It sounded like it was coming from an airplane.”

Then the tornado came. The roof flew off, the family of five and their visitors ran into the street - and quickly back into the house to get to safety from the flying parts. “We were all shocked,” said Baglan. Part of its roof fell onto the main road, which luckily no cars were driving on at the time.

He spent the night with his brother and is now waiting for the roofer to at least cover the roof temporarily. He doesn't yet know where he and his family will sleep until his house is habitable again.

“A total of around 12 to 15 families are affected, whose houses were severely damaged,” explains the mayor. For the first night, everyone stayed with friends or relatives. She doesn't know what will happen next: "It may be that we have to provide emergency accommodation."

On the one hand, the affected homeowner Schäffl wants to get back into his house as quickly as possible. But he was afraid to go into the converted attic and see what the tornado had done up there, the man says.

There is also a risk of severe weather due to heavy rain on Friday, as the DWD predicts. This is the case locally, individual thunderstorms are expected to arise from the southwest in the afternoon. Hail and stormy gusts can also occur.