A tree fell in Klosterneuburg (Tulln district) and took away a high stand on which a hunter was standing, said fire department spokesman Franz Resperger. Any help came too late for the man. In total, Sturm has caused around 130 fire brigade operations across Lower Austria since Thursday evening. There was a considerable risk of avalanches on some of the mountains.
According to the spokesman for the state fire brigade command, the fatal incident occurred during a wild boar hunt in the Klosterneuburg floodplain area. The emergency services were alerted around 1 a.m. and freed the elderly man. The emergency doctor might only determine that the hunter was dead, said Resperger.
“Massive” operations until the weekend
The fire brigades were also deployed in Lower Austria to remove fallen trees. Power and telephone lines were also damaged. “Massive” operations are expected until the weekend, said Resperger. “We are and remain on alert,” he emphasized. Larger fire departments are staffed at all times due to the weather forecast, the spokesman explained.
According to Resperger, there were small-scale power outages. The Amstetten district was affected. “The fire station was also without power for an hour due to the storm,” reported Hague city fire department commander Andreas Zöchlinger. In Behamberg a tree fell onto a roof. In Waidhofen ad Ybbs, a wooden crate that had fallen into a stream had to be removed due to the risk of flooding. According to a broadcast, almost 40 fire departments in the Amstetten and Scheibbs districts were alerted via the area alarm center during the night. In addition, trees fell on cars in the state, a garden shed was damaged and a blown trampoline had to be removed from a road.
In the Türnitz and Ybbstal Alps, in the Gippel-Göller area and in the Rax-Schneeberg area, the avalanche danger was assessed as significant on Friday (level 3 of 5). Even a small additional load is enough, “with the increase in snowdrift accumulations, large avalanches can also be triggered,” said the warning service. In the Gutenstein Alps and in the Semmering interchange area above 1,300 meters, the risk was assessed as moderate (level 2). With fresh snow and storms, the avalanche danger was expected to increase on Saturday.
