Dam failures, deaths, millions of damages: that’s how intense the storm surge was on the Baltic Sea

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Last weekend there were heavy storm surges in the Baltic Sea. The reason for this was the low Victor and the high Wiebke. Together they created Storm Babet. Due to the strong differences in air pressure, storm winds pushed gigantic masses of water towards the Baltic Sea coast. The disease was especially serious in Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Norway.

The highest water level in almost 120 years was measured at our northern neighbors in Flensburg on Saturday night. Mayor Fabian Geyer spoke of “extreme flooding”. Levels rose to an impressive 2.27 meters above normal. As a result, many buildings were flooded and had to be pumped out. Parts of the harbor were completely flooded, causing countless boats to sink or be driven ashore. The electricity also had to be temporarily turned off.

33 year old killed by tree

Something similar happened in other parts of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. About 2,000 emergency services were present there. About 2,000 people also had to be evacuated. One person even died on the holiday island of Fehmarn. The 33-year-old woman, who was driving her car, was killed by a tree.

Three dams broke during the violent storm. The repair and cleaning work will “take a long time,” the eastern fire brigade told the “Tagesschau”.

Ralf Kirchhoff, head of the disaster response department at the Schleswig-Holstein Ministry of the Interior, expected flood damage in the triple-digit million range.

Dirk Hundertmark, head of Schleswig-Holstein’s disaster response team, was surprised by the scale of the storm surge. He told NDR: “We experienced that the flood was significantly higher and came much faster than predicted.”

Traffic chaos and deaths also in other countries

But the once-in-a-century flood has left its mark not only in Germany, but also in Denmark. In many places there were flooding and water levels were up to two meters above normal. Photos show several boats sinking or washing up in Rodvig harbour. At the same time, air traffic was affected by the heavy storm. About 100 flights from Copenhagen airport had to be canceled on Friday.

In Norway, about 21,000 people were without electricity on Saturday morning, reports NTB news agency. Fallen trees caused even more disruption to road and train traffic.

Something similar happened in Sweden. There was also a storm alarm there. Several train lines were closed in the south of the country. In addition, there were floods, according to the TT news agency. Due to the very rough seas, some ferries were temporarily suspended, for example between Germany and Denmark, Germany and Sweden and Sweden and Poland. (Mrs)

Source: Blick