Storm “Frederico” claims one life
Published: Friday, Nov 17th 2023, 12:30
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The strongest autumn storm of the season so far swept across Switzerland on Friday night with gale-force winds of up to 170 km/h. The emergency services were called out dozens of times and one person was killed by a falling tree.
"Frederico" brought gale-force winds of 171 km/h on the Säntis, as MeteoSwiss reported in the morning on the short message service X, formerly Twitter. On the Uetliberg near Zurich, 133 km/h were measured, on the Hörnli in the Zurich Oberland 134 km/h. There were wind peaks of 135 km/h on the Napf and 152 km/h on the Bernese Bantiger.
But the storm also blew fiercely in the lowlands: according to MeteoSwiss, the gust peaks in Lucerne and Bern were in the top 10 of the highest wind speeds ever measured at 118 and 102 km/h respectively. In Plaffeien FR and Egolzwil LU, 111 km/h were measured, in Steckborn TG 105 km/h and in Zurich 100 km/h.
Man killed in car
A car was hit by a falling tree in Gurzelen in the canton of Bern. According to the cantonal police, the driver was trapped and seriously injured. When the emergency services arrived, they were only able to determine that the man had died.
In total, the police received over 90 reports of severe weather between Thursday evening and Friday morning, as was reported on request. In the Mittelland, Emmental, Oberaargau and Bern regions in particular, there were reports of fallen trees and construction site signage being blown away. The volunteer fire department of Bern's protection and rescue service had to be called out for 15 missions.
100 operations by the Zurich police
In the canton of Zurich, the emergency services were called out around 100 times due to fallen trees, as reported by Schutz und Rettung on X. Around 20 operations were in the city of Zurich. During the most intensive phase, the control center was operated with additional personnel. There were no reports of major damage caused by the storm early on Friday morning.
Numerous reports of fallen trees were also received in eastern Switzerland. The St. Gallen cantonal police recorded around 25 operations in connection with the storm, as they told the Keystone-SDA news agency on request.
Power outages in Ausserrhoden and Schaffhausen
The picture was similar in the canton of Thurgau. The operations center there received almost 30 reports in connection with the storm. 20 of these involved fallen trees. In Schwellbrun AR, a power line was damaged, which led to a temporary power outage. In the Schaffhausen municipalities of Bargen, Beggingen, Merishausen and Schleitheim, the power also went out at times on Friday night due to "Frederico". There were no reports of injuries until early Friday morning.
Meanwhile, the Lucerne police reported 46 reports received on X, again due to fallen trees and building barriers as well as fallen branches. There were no reports of injuries here either.
©Keystone/SDA
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