Storm Paula

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The storm Paula was a storm that from 26 to 27 January 2008 by Germany and Austria moved. The storm caused in large parts of Austria considerable damage , particularly forestry, one of the most serious forest damage of any kind since 1945. In Austria began storm in the early morning hours of 27 January 2008 and reached depending on the region on Sunday afternoon into the evening hours with hurricane force its climax.

Since the weather events in Austria do not officially have a name, the German sponsorship awarded by the Free University of Berlin was used in many Austrian media and the name Paula was used (see naming for weather events ).

weather condition

On January 26, 2008, the storm Paula passed over Germany. The highest recorded wind speeds were 126 km / h in the afternoon in Glücksburg / Meierwik on the Flensburg Fjord in Schleswig-Holstein, as well as with hurricane gusts of up to 140 km / h at 1141.2  m above sea level. NHN high Brocken measured in Saxony-Anhalt .

In large parts of Austria reached Paula in 2008 on the following Sunday, January 27 hurricane force ( Beaufort  12). The highest speeds were measured on the Schneeberg with 230 km / h, on the Feuerkogel in Upper Austria it was 165 km / h. But even in valleys it was still over 100 km / h in large areas. At Graz Airport 119 km / h were measured, in Irdning im Ennstal even a peak value of 145 km / h was measured in the valley. In the westernmost state of Vorarlberg , hardly any effects were noticed. The ZAMG had already informed the state warning centers about the strong storms on Wednesday before , but no precise location information could be given.

The high wind speeds in Austria resulted from strong pressure differences in the earth's atmosphere . While there was a strong high , the high Bernd , in the west , there was also a strong low Paula in the east . In between there were large differences in air pressure, which the wind balanced out in an approximately north-south direction. What was unusual, however, was not the high speeds on the mountains, but those in the valley, which was caused by a foehn-like component in the press winch crossing the Alpine ridge. Due to the fact that the center of the low pressure complex is located comparatively far to the east, the eastern and south-eastern fringes of the Alps were particularly hard hit in contrast to the usual Atlantic storm lows. Meteorologists said that a winter storm of this strength in southeast Austria only occurs every 20 to 30 years. The hurricane Emma four weeks later, as well as the hurricanes Kyrill (the year before) and the two severe Vivian (1990) and Lothar (1999) had hardly affected the southern side of the Alps.

Effects

Monument Sturm Paula

The effects and the damage caused were extensive in Austria, and of a similar extent to that of Kyrill . The storm caused the greatest damage in Styria (far more violent than Kyrill, from which the southern side of the Alps was little affected), in southern Lower Austria , in Carinthia and partly in Upper Austria .

Strong wind breaks were not only caused in the forests . Numerous disruptions in the traffic connections were the result. Both the ÖBB and road connections were interrupted for hours. On the southern runway , the main line had to be closed due to damage to the overhead line. Around 100,000 households were also without electricity until Monday night, as trees kept falling into the lines and interrupted them. In Styria alone, 750 power lines were interrupted. In addition, due to the dangerous nature of the repairs, it was necessary to wait for the storm to subside. Falling power lines also occasionally led to forest fires , as in Upper Styria. Even on Monday, a few thousand houses in remote areas were still without electricity. Although top speeds of 112 km / h were also measured in Vienna, the damage balance was not that high. There were just repeated disturbances in traffic.

While the power supply in Carinthia was almost restored on Wednesday, 1200 households in Styria were still without electricity. The southern runway between Frohnleiten and Bruck an der Mur was also only possible to a limited extent.

Damage

17 people were injured by flying parts. But there were no life-threatening accidents. However, two people died during the clearing work in the forest the following week.

Serious damage occurred in built-up areas. The Graz professional fire brigade spoke with 403 specific tasks and hundreds of other emergency calls and inquiries about one of the most intensive disaster operations in the history of the professional fire brigade. According to the Austrian Federal Fire Brigade Association , 1,065 fire brigades with 15,870 helpers had deployed 4,560 by Sunday evening. The armed forces were requested to provide assistance. On Tuesday, soldiers of the Pioneer Battalion began clearing roads from places in the Feldkirchen district that were still cut off from the outside world. In the rest of Europe, the storm caused relatively little damage.

The insurance companies estimate the insured damage to be around 70 to 90 million euros; The wind break is not included because it is not insurable, but it is rated at least as high. Estimates of the indirect damage amount to around 280 million euros.

Forestry consequences of Paula and Emma

According to initial estimates, the two storms Paula and Emma  caused forest damage in Austria - at the beginning of March - that reached the record loss of Vivian / Wiebke in 1990 and by far exceeded that of Kyrill in 2007. A total of 6.2 million solid cubic meters of storm wood is   assumed by Paula   and an estimated 1.9 million solid cubic meters by Emma ( Vivian / Wibke: ~ 7.5 million cubic meters ; Kyrill: 3.4 million cubic meters ). Paula's damaging effects particularly affected the foreland and alpine region in the southeast, including Styria with 4 million cubic meters, which is a multiple of the damage caused by hurricane Kyrill and corresponds to almost an all-year impact . In Carinthia about 1.5 million sm3 were knocked over. Forestry experts speak of one of the most severe damage in the south-eastern Austrian forest since the Second World War . Emma mainly had an impact on the foothills of the Tyrol and Upper Austria .

In contrast to Kyrill , whose damaging effects fell in the 2006/2007 winter, which was initially scarce for wood, the damage suffered by Paula and Emma after the two extremely warm winters had a negative impact on the price of wood. The comparatively low amount of damaged wood across Europe is a relief, but the extensive snow break after the particularly snowy winter in the south-facing Alps makes things more difficult.

As with all winter storms, there was an acute risk of a bark beetle plague, which, according to Vivian / Wibke, had led to a further loss of almost 2 million cubic meters. In addition, blockages were feared if larger rainfall should follow before the dead wood was removed.

The federal state of Carinthia counteracted the problem by making wet storage available so that the forest managers could process the broken wood quickly but did not have to sell it immediately.

According to Vivian , who, among other things, had caused damage, especially in the high areas, for years increasingly heavy mudslides appeared due to the slowly progressing soil loosening (especially during the rain of the century in the summer of 1997 ). The Austrian Federal Forests planned reforestation as soon as possible, but taking greater account of the forest's storm resistance. After more frequent weather situations like this one had to be expected in the future, the Austrian Institute of Technology in Seibersdorf started a research program in which storm-resistant spruce trees were to be grown in order to reforest.

Together with Emma, ​​Paula achieved the damage caused by Vivian / Wiebke in 1990 as well as the snow break of 1979 with around 6 million cubic meters, so it turned out to be one of the most serious forest damage events of the Second Republic.

See also

Web links

Commons : Storm Paula  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 2,000 households still without electricity . ORF Carinthia. January 28, 2008. Retrieved February 17, 2011.
  2. ↑ a b Huge damage from storm “Paula” . The press. January 28, 2008. Archived from the original on February 25, 2008. Retrieved on February 17, 2011.
  3. ↑ Storm low "Paula": damage in the millions . The press. January 28, 2008. Archived from the original on April 22, 2008. Retrieved on February 17, 2011.
  4. ↑ Injured and severe damage from storm . ORF Styria. January 28, 2008. Retrieved February 17, 2011.
  5. ↑ Still 1,200 households without electricity . ORF Styria. January 30, 2008. Retrieved February 17, 2011.
  6. ↑ Two deaths after forest accidents . ORF Styria. February 1, 2008. Retrieved February 17, 2011.
  7. ↑ Storm over Graz - the day after  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.bf-graz.at  
  8. ↑ News . Federal Fire Brigade Association ÖBFV. January 28, 2008. Retrieved February 17, 2011.
  9. ^ Storm "Paula" in Styria: An interim balance . Federal Ministry for National Defense. Retrieved on March 8, 2008. - with picture galleries of the missions
  10. ↑ A million cubic meters of wood on the floor . ORF Carinthia. January 29, 2008. Retrieved February 17, 2011.
  11. ↑ a b 91 million euros damage in the Styrian forest . ORF Styria. February 1, 2008. Retrieved February 17, 2011.
  12. ↑ a b PRÖLL on Hurricane Paula: First estimates of the damage amount to 6.2 million cubic meters of harvest - BILD (OTS0105 5 WI 0287 MLA0001 CI) In: Digital press kit . Ministry of Life. February 1, 2008. Retrieved February 17, 2011.
  13. ↑ Emma: Storm damage in the forest is far below fear (OTS0132 5 WI 0191 MLA0002 CI Fr) In: Digital press kit . Ministry of Life. March 7, 2008. Retrieved February 17, 2011.
  14. ↑ a b c Sixth environmental control report from the Federal Minister for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management to the National Council , Chapter 7. Forests , Fig. 9, p. 321. In: Federal Environment Agency: Various publications. Volume 067, Vienna 2001, ISBN 3-85457-593-9 ( web document , pdf 0.8MB)
  15. ^ Martin Hillmann, AFZ-DerWald 22/2007, pp. 1190-1191; AFZ 5/2007, p. 250; AFZ 3/2007, p. 153; quoted according to damage balance Kyrill - more detailed forest considerations by Martin Hubrig, posting in event analyzes: Wetterzentrale Forum , January 18, 2008 10:27 am
  16. ↑ Forest management warns of panic sales . ORF Styria. January 25, 2008. Retrieved February 17, 2011.
  17. ↑ Spruces are not to blame for storm damage . ORF Carinthia. February 3, 2008. Retrieved February 17, 2011.
  18. ^ "Paula" follows "Kyrill" one year later , Institute for Forest Protection, BFW / Federal Office for Forests
  19. ^ Processing of storm damage in the forest - from a forest protection point of view , Institute for Forest Protection, BFW / Federal Office for Forests
  20. ↑ Fichte should be “fit” for storms , ORF Niederösterreich, from February 3, 2008