Germany braces for major storm Zeynep after Ylenia

The second major storm to hit Germany in days is approaching over the North Sea and is expected to bring gusts of up to 140 kilometers per hour (87 miles per hour) and more in some regions on Friday.

Storm Zeynep already raged in southwestern England and south Wales early in the day under the international name of Eunice, triggering a rare “red warning” in some areas.

Eunice, known in Germany as Zeynep, brought harsh conditions to several English and Welsh regions

Where will the storm hit?

The storm is forecast to hit the northern half of Germany from midday local time on Friday, with the area around the mouth of the Elbe River particularly affected. Storm tide warnings have been issued for the region.

The German Weather Service (DWD) says Zeynep will then move eastward during the night, with high-speed gusts from the Baltic Sea to the eastern state of Brandenburg. The storm is expected to calm down by morning, though fairly strong winds will remain throughout Saturday.

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  Storm Ylenia wreaks havoc across Germany

  Fish out of water

  Hamburg’s fish market, including the fish auction hall, was flooded on Thursday morning. “At the St. Pauli gauge, a value of 1.98 meters (6.5 feet) above mean high water (MHW) was measured at around 5.00 a.m.,” said a spokesperson for the storm surge warning service of the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH) in Hamburg.

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  Storm Ylenia wreaks havoc across Germany

  Going nowhere

  Firefighters clear a tree from under a Nordwestbahn train near Dorsten in North Rhine-Westphalia. Train traffic was severely disrupted across large parts of Germany. In northern Germany, no long-distance trains ran until later in the day, according to a railway spokesman.

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  Storm Ylenia wreaks havoc across Germany

  A busy day for police and fire services

  Fire brigades and the police reported numerous deployments across Germany Thursday morning. As seen here in Bad Bevensen in Lower Saxony, uprooted trees fell on houses and power lines — which meant that in North Rhine-Westphalia, for example, about 54,000 households were temporarily without power. In most cases, however, the supply was quickly restored.

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  Storm Ylenia wreaks havoc across Germany

  Dangerous driving conditions

  Driving conditions were particularly hazardous as this truck driver found out on the A29 motorway near Oldenburg. The vehicle was caught by a squall and overturned. Fortunately, the driver was not injured.

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  Storm Ylenia wreaks havoc across Germany

  Rocky times

  A sign warns passersby at Cologne’s Cathedral of falling stones. In the whole of North Rhine-Westphalia, school lessons were canceled. In several regions of Lower Saxony and Bavaria, too, pupils stayed at home because of the weather hazards.

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  Storm Ylenia wreaks havoc across Germany

  Snow chaos

  It was particularly stormy during the night on the exposed Brocken mountain in the Harz mountains in the state of Saxony-Anhalt. Wind speeds of up to 152 km/h (94 miles an hour) were measured overnight.

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  Storm Ylenia wreaks havoc across Germany

  Testing times for travelers

  As here in Berlin, long queues formed in front of numerous Deutsche Bahn information desks. Berlin-Brandenburg Airport BER also canceled flights Thursday morning. According to the German Meteorological Service, winds will slowly ease from Thursday afternoon, but the respite is likely to be short: Storm Zeynep is expected to hit on Friday.

  Author: Philipp Böll

Parts of the states of Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Bremen, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Brandenburg, Berlin, North Rhine-Westphalia, Hesse, Thuringia and Saxony are all expected to be affected.

Residents have been warned to bring to safety any objects that could be blown away, including flower boxes on balconies.

Germany’s national train operator Deutsche Bahn said it was halting long-distance and regional services in the north of the country on Friday due to the approaching storm.

The halt to regional services affected Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, Lower Saxony and Bremen, as well as parts of North Rhine-Westphalia, and was set to start on some lines at 2 p.m.

A week of storms 

Zeynep comes on the heels of storm Ylenia, known as Dudley in international nomenclature, which caused at least three deaths and considerable disruption to transport in some regions of Germany from Wednesday evening into Thursday.

Ylenia brought down a large number of trees

Two of the fatalities occurred when falling trees crushed cars, and another driver was killed when his trailer was blown onto the wrong side of the road, causing an accident. The deaths took place in the states of Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt.

Berlin firefighters alone were called out some 1,300 times up to Thursday evening.

Germany gives its own names to storms and high-pressure systems, with normal citizens able to choose names for such weather events for a fee.

France and the Netherlands also brace

The French weather service issued a severe weather warning for five departments in the north in anticipation of the arrival of Eunice.

French railroads announced that from noon onwards they would suspend regional traffic in the northernmost Hauts-de-France region and in Normandy from midday. 

In the Netherlands, the most severe level of weather alert, code red, was called for large parts of the country — but particularly for coastal areas.

Train traffic was also stopped and schools closed in many areas.

Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport announced cancellations and delays, with national carrier KLM canceling almost 170 flights to the air traffic hub because of the storm.

tj,rc/dj (dpa, AFP)

Germany braces for major storm Zeynep after Ylenia
Source: Pinoy Pop News