Some trees 3 ft (1 m) in diameter – Few in the fire service could recall so many ice-damaged trees. Trees breaking like matchsticks.
1 Dec 14 – The fire service was called out more than 200 times over the weekend in the district of Zwettl (Lower Austria) as a rare ice storm hit the region, bringing chaos with layers of frozen ice in trees.
Firefighters have been busy clearing away hundreds of trees from the vicinity of homes and power lines. The trees’ branches had been bent almost double by the weight of the ice.
Motorists in the region have been asked to exercise extreme caution due to icy conditions on the roads.
Northeast Fire Department spokesman Franz Resperger described on Sunday how many trees were destroyed by the ice, including some with trunks more than a meter (3 ft) in diameter.
Trees breaking like matchsticks
Trees are unable to bear the enormous load of ice, and break like matchsticks, burying everything underneath them.
Streets have been closed, and many roads are impassable, even for emergency vehicles. The region has been declared a disaster zone, with no access.
Slovenian memories
For many, the sight of the ice-covered trees awakened reminders of the major disaster in northeast Slovenia last winter.
In Austria’s southern neighbor, almost all the trees, electricity and telephone poles were broken under the heavy burden of ice in February, causing almost 200,000 households to be without power.
Traffic chaos
The fire departments around Ottenschlag, Kirchschlag and Kottes were especially busy removing the broken giant trees from roads, roofs and garages.
On Sunday, the B36 state highway had to be temporarily closed because dozens of trees were criss-crossing the street.
Such weather phenomenon is not entirely unknown in the Waldviertel, however few in the fire service could recall so many ice-damaged trees.
http://www.thelocal.at/20141201/rare-ice-storm-hits-waldviertel
http://www.thelocal.at/20141203/dramatic-evacuation-of-hohe-wande-in-ice-storm
See photos:
http://www.thelocal.at/galleries/news/ice-storm-in-the-waldviertel
Thanks to George Martinez for these links
“Austrian troops are clearing the way to the trapped people (many photos),” says reader Nevsky.
http://www.heute.at/news/oesterreich/art23655,1102989
http://www.heute.at/freizeit/wetter/art23671,1102712 (LIVE NEWS)