Thunderstorms bring floods and hail the size of a nickel
Published: Wednesday, Jul 31st 2024, 20:40
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Heavy thunderstorms swept across Switzerland on Wednesday, causing localized flooding. In the St. Gallen area, water flooded into houses. Several communities in the Chur Rhine Valley were without power. In Uetendorf BE, the attic of a two-family house burned out after being struck by lightning. No one was injured.
There was heavy rain, squalls and, according to MeteoSwiss, hailstones the size of five-franc pieces. By early evening, around 48,000 flashes of lightning had been counted over Switzerland, as reported by SRF Meteo.
There was a lot of rain in the St. Gallen area. There, 50 millimetres were measured in one hour, 22 of them within ten minutes. In Thurgau, the police warned of flooding in the Sitter and called on people to leave the danger zone via Warnapp Alertswiss.
But it also poured down heavily in central Switzerland. In Oberiberg SZ, 40 millimetres were measured in one hour, with a total of around 60 millimetres. There were heavy squalls in places. In Einsiedeln SZ, it blew at 110 kilometers per hour.
90 emergency calls in St. Gallen
No information on major damage was initially available. There were reports of downed trees and temporarily flooded streets and squares. In St. Gallen, the police received over 90 emergency calls in the evening.
In Rorschach SG, Federal Councillor Elisabeth Baume-Schneider was unable to give her planned 1 August speech. The marquee was evacuated as a precautionary measure due to an approaching thunderstorm. Dozens of people were asked to leave the area, as a correspondent from the Keystone-SDA news agency reported on site.
Ship salvage prevented
Several municipalities in the Chur Rhine Valley lost power for around an hour in the early evening. Landquart, Zizers, Fläsch and Maienfeld were among those affected. Around 8,500 households were affected, according to the energy supplier Repower. The cause was assumed to be a lightning strike.
Heavy thunderstorms on Lake Lucerne prevented the recovery of a motorboat that sank on Tuesday evening. An oil barrier was then set up between Meggenhorn and Hertenstein because fuel had leaked out. Another salvage attempt is to follow on Thursday.
©Keystone/SDA
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