Storm in Northern Germany on July 11, 1951
The storm of July 11, 1951 was a storm that resulted from a severe thunderstorm situation, in which heavy rain, lightning, but above all two tornadoes caused severe damage throughout Germany and the former GDR, and in many places the harvest was destroyed. Numerous people were killed by flying debris and falling trees as well as by lightning strikes. T. seriously injured. In the Bremen area, two people were killed by a tornado and one by lightning.
Course of the storm
After a hot summer day with temperatures around 30 ° C, a thunderstorm front crossed northwest Germany from southwest to northeast in the afternoon of July 11, 1951. When they passed through, the temperature dropped by more than 10 ° C. In the areas north of the Lüneburg Heath and Wendland, the front was accompanied by very violent thunderstorms with hail, heavy rain and gusts of wind. Two tornadoes caused severe damage on the Hude (Oldb.) Line via Bremen-Nord to Gnarrenburg and in Brunsbüttelkoog. In many places there were power and telephone outages, severe floods and traffic obstructions.
The tornado in the Bremen area
With the passage of the thunderstorm front, a tornado coming from the Hude (Oldb.) Area moved in a north-easterly direction between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. This uprooted around 1000 trees over a width of 100 to 150 meters in the district of Osterholz-Scharmbeck in the villages of Scharmbeckstotel , Ritterhude , Wasserhorst and kinked around 1.5 km of telephone lines. Around 200 houses in his track became largely uninhabitable, and some farm wagons in the fields were thrown many meters through the air. The building of a newspaper kiosk was torn from the foundations and transported along with the owner about 1500 m through the storm. In Ritterhude, a 50 m high chimney fell due to the enormous wind pressure; in the Burg district of Bremen , the passengers of an O-bus were in mortal danger for a long time after the overhead line torn down by the tornado and the bus was powered. In the city of Bremen, two people were killed directly by the windpants, another was struck by lightning when the tornado passed through.
The Brunsbüttelkoog tornado
Just like the Bremen area, Brunsbüttelkoog was hit by a tornado during the storm. Trees with trunk diameters of 40 cm were kinked, telephone and power lines were interrupted and roofs, e.g. T. swirled away over 80 m.
memory
In Ritterhude , the New Peace Oak and a plaque by the town hall remind of this event.