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The autumnal weather change leads to violent storms – also in Switzerland. The overview.
Where does “Babet” rage? The “Babet” storm rages most intensely on the North and Baltic Seas. So far, the storm has caused chaos on both sides of the North Sea – the sea went crazy in Scotland and northern England as well as in Schleswig-Holstein and Denmark. Now the storm seems to be slowly subsiding, especially on the German coast. The German Weather Service has lifted the warning of hurricane gusts overnight. In Scotland the authorities remain on guard. They warn of a strong storm. Heavy rain could continue to fall in regions already affected by flooding.
In Brechin, Scotland, the protective devices gave way around 4 a.m. The river level is 0.5 meters above the all-time high. “This is unprecedented,” reported the Angus local council on X (formerly Twitter).
A violent storm is also raging in southern France. There were power outages, road closures and school closures. The seafront promenade in Nice was closed due to high waves. The weather service Météo France issued the highest severe weather warning level, red, for the region.
Where were there fatalities? A woman in Edinburgh was swept away by a river and died. The 57-year-old woman’s body was found in a river in the Angus region, police said on Thursday evening. A 56-year-old was also killed by a tree in his van near the town of Forfar, the police announced on Friday. Several other people had to be evacuated in the Scottish capital. A man also died in flooding in Cleobury Mortimer, England.
Legend:
In Scotland, emergency workers went door to door to ask residents of hundreds of homes to leave their homes.
Keystone/ANDREW MILLIGAN
Where is traffic restricted? The airport was temporarily closed after a plane left the runway in Leeds, England. Around one in ten flights at Copenhagen Airport were canceled on Friday due to the storm over the Baltic Sea. The Scandlines ferry service between Germany and Denmark also had to be temporarily stopped. The reason is not high water, but deep water. The strong wind pushes the water away from the German coast, meaning that ferries cannot sail. A bridge near Norway’s second-largest city of Bergen has been closed for safety reasons, the local newspaper reported. Public transport has also been severely restricted in Sweden.
Are we also feeling the weather event in Switzerland? In Ticino, in addition to heavy rainfall, wind gusts of up to 122 kilometers per hour were measured in Biasca. This left uprooted trees, landslides and various damage in Val Pontirone. The Biasca Pontirone and Biasca Sant’Anna power plants, which ensure the valley’s electricity supply, “will be out of operation for the entire weekend, but at least until Monday,” the operator said.
Why are there violent storms right now? With the change in temperature that occurs in autumn, it is normal for violent storms to occur at the border between warm and cold air. “Turbulent weather is part of this time of year,” explains Felix Blumer from SRF Meteo. The storms are an expression of the same phenomenon, but not directly connected.