Snow chaos in Austria: power outages and numerous accidents
Heavy snowfall in Austria especially in Carinthia for accidents and power outages. In some regions, significantly more than 20 centimeters of fresh snow fell.
Vienna – In a short time there is a lot of fresh snow in some parts Austria run down – and that down to the lowest elevations. The violent onset of winter with a lot snow makes and makes things difficult for road users in Carinthia and Styria. The roads are extremely slippery. Trucks get stuck. The Tauernautobahn (A10) had to be temporarily closed. Clearing services have been in continuous use since Sunday night. In the city of Klagenfurt, 230 employees have been tirelessly clearing snow from streets and cycle paths since 1 a.m. 18 centimeters of fresh snow fell there. The city asks residents for patience and appeals to leave cars in so much snow.
Snow chaos in Austria: a thousand households in Carinthia without electricity
In addition to the snow masses, power failures cause problems. Central and Lower Carinthia is affected by power outages. In the meantime, 13,000 households in the Austrian state of Carinthia were without electricity. In the morning, around 10,000 households were still affected, reports the ORF. The problem with that weather: The snow is damp and wet. Branches can break and thus also affect the power supply. The situation is “dynamic”, said a spokesman for Kärnten Netz. Around 100 fitters are on the road.
Emergency services have been in continuous use since night. Fallen trees block roads. According to the ORF, there have been “260 fire brigade operations across Carinthia” since midnight. 125 fire brigades with 1,100 members are deployed. The volunteer fire department in Krumpendorf shares action photos on Facebook. Streets covered in deep snow and fallen trees can be seen on it.
Without snow chains nothing works on some routes in Austria
The Wurzenpass (B109) is closed due to avalanche danger. Trucks over 7.5 tons need chains for the Rosentalstraße (B85) between Sütschach and the A11 feeder St. Jakob. On many other routes besides mountain passes, all vehicles need snow chains – snow chains are compulsory. ÖBB train services are also affected. Due to the heavy snowfall, no train service is currently possible between Faak am See and Rosenbach. The long-distance trains between Villach Hauptbahnhof and Jesenice in Slovenia is interrupt. The closure is expected to last until 3 p.m.
The Austrian Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics – ZAMG for short – had warned of the snowfall days ago. A “yellow snow warning” still applies for Carinthia. According to the forecast, the weather will calm down with more snow after a short time. The Austrian weather experts expect up to 15 centimeters of fresh snow on Tuesday night. Most of the snow falls in the south. (ml)