Monday, August 21, 2017

Storm in Frankfurt


This post is for family and friends who have lived in Frankfurt: really unusual weather!



Aug 15 Randy and I were delivering a new baby box to a refugee camp on the west side of Frankfurt when this storm hit. It blew some siding off one of the homes - the one we were in with the new baby!. When we got home, I found that all my plants on the balcony had been blown down. Least damage to the tomato, surprisingly. I lost half of the petunias to breakage and there was minor flooding into the frontroom.

Here is a lovely conclusion: we had to leave the balcony in a rather wet and muddy state when we left the next morning on a refugee fact finding trip to France (hard, but someone has to do it!). We asked our friends and neighbors, E&S Van Hoff (IT specialists) to water our plants while we were gone. Arriving home, we found that Elder Jon Van Hoff had cleaned and washed both balconies!

http://www.hessenschau.de/panorama/heftiges-unwetter-im-rhein-main-gebiet,unwetter-hessen-112.html

Violent storm in the Rhine-Main area - fire service in continuous use
traffic and rail traffic paralyzed
Updated on 15/08/17 at 23:08
Within a short time the fire brigade had over 200 deployments. Image © Michael Seeboth (hr) / Fire Department Frankfurt
The airport and the main station in Frankfurt are dense, trees are overthrowned, cellars are flooded: over the Rhine-Main area a heavy storm has unloaded. In the Taunus, a lightning set a row house on fire.
video Post   Violent storm in the Rhine-Main area

Several trees were down right along Marbachweg, the street by our church.
It only took a good half an hour. But the storm that escaped over the Rhine-Main area on the afternoon of the service evening had it in itself - especially for Frankfurt. Heavy traffic, lightning and thunder temporarily suspended the entire air traffic and large parts of the railway traffic in the city.

For an hour, the check-in was on the apron of the airport. The main railway station was blocked - the train and S-Bahn in Frankfurt also imposed a compulsory break.

Fraport spokesman said. Neither take-offs nor landings were possible from 2.30 pm to 3.00 pm. This later led to delays and cancellations. There were about 50 flight failures until the late afternoon.

"We have to wait and see how we can catch up," the airport spokesman said. Passengers had been asked to schedule their arrival at the check-in counter as early as possible before departure. In addition, Fraport also recommended checking the flight status on the airlines' websites.
Forced passage for rail
But it was not just the airport: train traffic in the Frankfurt area was halted at 14.47, as a railway speaker said. It also met all suburban railways, as the Rhine-Main-Verkehrsverbund (RMV) communicated.   At 15.20 clock it was then rolled again slowly. Until it was again in regular operation, but it would still take a while. He says nothing has been reported about the damage, said the railway speaker.
This roof was blown off a house in Preungesheim, which is only about 1 kilometer from our apartment. 
According to the fire department, the fire brigade had already completed about 100 operations until 3.30 pm in the city. One and a half hours later, there were already 230 locations - among other things, because trees were tipped on parking cars. In the district of Preungesheim the stormy wind swept a flat roof from a house. Firemen helped with a provisional plan. In the late evening the result of the Frankfurter Feuerwehr: On this day, the Einsatzkräfte were disarmed 287 times because of the severe weather.


A total of 287 operations due to the #Unwetter have been processed since noon today. Predominantly overturned trees and water in buildings.