Austria battles major flooding after record downpours
Aug 18 (Reuters) -Heavy rains lashed Alpine regions of Austria and left parts of Vienna under water at the weekend, causing severe damage in parts of the country and disrupting road and rail transport, authorities and local media said.
Torrents of muddy water swept cars through the ski resort of St. Anton in western Austria, footage posted on social media showed. Meanwhile record rainfall hit parts of Vienna in the east of the country, state broadcaster ORF said.
A woman was dragged under a bus by the force of flooding in the Doebling area in the north of the city on Saturday, ORF said. She was taken to hospital in a critical condition, it added.
Fire services in the capital were called out more than 450 times on Saturday as the downpours caused traffic chaos and disrupted rail transport, according to ORF.
"Heavy storms have done great damage in many parts of Austria," Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said on X, thanking officials who were working to clear up the damage.
In Vienna's Doebling district, officials registered 110 litres of rain per square metre, which ORF Vienna meteorologist Kevin Hebenstreit said was a record for August rainfall in the city.
A large proportion of Vienna's average summer rainfall hit on Saturday in just one hour, according to weather data firm UBIMET.
On average in August it rains a total of 68 litres per square metre, with the all-time record being 139 litres on May 15, 1885, according to ORF.
Reporting by Emma-Victoria Farr and Dave Graham
Editing by Frances Kerry
Latest News
Disclaimer: The XM Group entities provide execution-only service and access to our Online Trading Facility, permitting a person to view and/or use the content available on or via the website, is not intended to change or expand on this, nor does it change or expand on this. Such access and use are always subject to: (i) Terms and Conditions; (ii) Risk Warnings; and (iii) Full Disclaimer. Such content is therefore provided as no more than general information. Particularly, please be aware that the contents of our Online Trading Facility are neither a solicitation, nor an offer to enter any transactions on the financial markets. Trading on any financial market involves a significant level of risk to your capital.
All material published on our Online Trading Facility is intended for educational/informational purposes only, and does not contain – nor should it be considered as containing – financial, investment tax or trading advice and recommendations; or a record of our trading prices; or an offer of, or solicitation for, a transaction in any financial instruments; or unsolicited financial promotions to you.
Any third-party content, as well as content prepared by XM, such as: opinions, news, research, analyses, prices and other information or links to third-party sites contained on this website are provided on an “as-is” basis, as general market commentary, and do not constitute investment advice. To the extent that any content is construed as investment research, you must note and accept that the content was not intended to and has not been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research and as such, it would be considered as marketing communication under the relevant laws and regulations. Please ensure that you have read and understood our Notification on Non-Independent Investment. Research and Risk Warning concerning the foregoing information, which can be accessed here.
