After snow chaos: There is still no final all-clear in the Innviertel

2023-12-05 03:45:00

Due to the heavy and long-lasting snowfall at the weekend, the fire brigades, the employees of the Innviertel road maintenance department, breakdown services and also the electricity suppliers were in constant use.

“It was intensive, but not an unusual winter service operation for us,” reports Peter Bauer, department manager of the Münzkirchen road maintenance department. He cannot understand the criticism from some citizens who complained that the snow removal vehicles pushed the snow onto sidewalks or driveways that had already been cleared. “With the amount of snow, we sometimes had no other option. It was important to us that the streets were cleared for traffic.”

While there were still numerous road closures over the weekend, the situation had already eased by yesterday, Monday, and all roads were passable again. Bauer cannot rule out the possibility that there could be isolated road closures in the coming days due to the snow load caused by fallen trees and urges drivers to be careful, especially on side roads.

Picture gallery: Exceptional situation: The Braunau district is drowning in snow

(Photo: Daniel Scharinger) Bild 1/111

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The comrades from the Schärding district fire departments also had a lot to do. Around 220 missions had to be carried out – most of them involved clearing traffic routes and dozens of trees had to be removed, reports Schärding’s district fire brigade commander Alfred Deschberger.

The fire fighters from the Braunau district were on constant duty. Well over 350 missions have been recorded. The work of around 70 fire brigades was made more difficult by power outages, as Johann Treiblmaier, operations manager and deputy district fire brigade commander, reported.

After snow chaos: There is still no final all-clear on the roads — The Stelzhamer monument in Ried is covered in snow
Image: Alex Hueber

Dangerous work assignments

“Last weekend was very intense for our employees, and the start of the week on Monday was very similar. The work is quite dangerous due to the falling trees. Our employees were also supported by an external company and the fire brigade. I would like to thank everyone for their efforts “, said Friedrich Pöttinger, Managing Director of Energie Ried.

The operations started on Saturday at four in the morning. Thousands of people were briefly without power, but in the evening around 6 p.m. all Energie Ried customers were back on the power grid. The main reason for the temporary power outages were trees that had fallen on power lines. There is still a lot to do in the coming days, “because many power lines could only be temporarily repaired for the time being,” says Pöttinger.

Caution: freezing rain is expected

Schärding’s district fire brigade commander Deschberger advises driving carefully: “On Tuesday we expect freezing rain and fresh snow.” Great caution is required on the streets and sidewalks.

“It is difficult to estimate how severe the freezing rain will be,” said meteorologist Claudia Riedl from GeoSphere Austria in an interview with the Innviertler Nachrichten yesterday. In any case, caution is advised. After a frosty night, very slight plus temperatures can be expected during the day this Tuesday.