This rare phenomenon was caused by the meeting of hot air from France and Spain, and cold air from the North. In Paderborn, the damage is evaluated at several million euros.
Le Monde with AFP
A tornado injured almost 40 people, “including ten seriously”, and made “immense damage” by crossing Friday, May 20, the center of Paderborn, a city in western Germany, said the Local police. “Thirty-eight injured, some of which seriously, were transported to the hospital,” said city firefighters on their Twitter account. A person “is in danger of death”, said the local police.
This rare and localized phenomenon struck this average city of North Westphalia at the end of the afternoon, while bad weather affects the whole country after several days of abnormally high temperatures for the season.
In Paderborn, the police assessed “several million” euros the “ravages” caused by the storm which mobilized more than 350 intervention forces. The column of the tornado progressing towards the dwellings, carrying trees and building sides, was visible in several photos posted on social networks.
The city of Lippstadt, about thirty kilometers, was also probably touched by a tornado, according to a spokesperson for firefighters, without injuries being at this stage to deplore. The church bell tower of this city was swept away under the violence of gusts of wind, according to photos published on social networks. The spokesperson reported “torn roofs, broken windows and many trees torn throughout the city”.
hail rain
More generally, the bad weather caused numerous damage in this region of western Germany, the police reported countless uprooted trees. Pictures posted online also showed returned cars.
In Rhineland-Palatinate, rail falls five centimeters in diameter have also been reported, damaging “seriously several dozen vehicles whose windows were shattered while they were circulating,” said the Coblence police. A 38 -year -old man died after having undergone an electric shock by entering a flooded cellar following the bad weather, and having dropped on his head, parallel announced the Coblence police.
This region, with the Rhineland of North Westphalia, had already been very affected last July by torrential rains which had caused floods and cost the lives of more than 180 people. The rail traffic in high -speed trains has been strongly disturbed in the west, and the police called on the inhabitants to stay at home.
“explosive mix”
In the south, in Nuremberg, Bavaria, regional traffic has also been disrupted due to trees fallen on the railways, said Deutsche Bahn. The German weather services had issued a storm notice for Friday day, with gusts of the winds which up to 130 km/h in places.
The bad weather, which first touched the west of the country, moved east in the evening. The violence of the storm is linked to the arrival in Germany of particularly hot air from Spain and France, on the one hand, and cold air coming from the north on the other hand, explained the meteorologist Özden Terli on ZDF public television, which spoke of an “explosive mixture”.
In metropolitan France the average temperature exceeded daily seasonal norms for 38 days on Wednesday, equaling an April-May 2007 record, according to weather services. In Germany, the 30 degree mark, sometimes more, was reached Thursday in several municipalities in the west and southern country.