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A disaster and civil protection alert was declared in Lower Austria, and the western route was interrupted. Fire departments throughout Austria had already been called out hundreds of times on Sunday. But the heavy rainfall is continuing—for the time being – and in Lower Austria in particular, it is expected to continue raining heavily and without interruption until the afternoon.
The flood situation remains critical throughout the country, and the fire departments largely concentrate on rescuing people. Due to the cold snap, the mountains are already very wintry in places. However, the sun is expected to appear in the west and south of Austria today.
Lower Austria disaster area: On Sunday, heavy rainfall declared the whole of Lower Austria a disaster area.
Roads closed: 100 roads in Lower Austria are currently closed. Purkersdorf is currently inaccessible, and some areas in Styria are also inaccessible by car.
Western line interrupted: Train services on the western line between Amstetten and St. Valentin in the province’s west were suspended on Sunday night.
Subways in Vienna: Due to flooding, the U4 line only runs between Heiligenstadt and Karlsplatz. Operation of the U6 line between Meidling station and Westbahnhof is not possible.
Cemeteries remain closed: Due to the storms, access to cemeteries in Vienna will remain closed on Sunday.
Ottenstein Reservoir will probably overflow today
Since Friday, continuous rain has been falling in large parts of Austria, especially in the north and east of the country. Many reservoirs and dams are being pushed to their limits, including the Ottenstein reservoir in the Waldviertel region of Lower Austria.
“In the past twelve hours, there has been widespread excess rainfall in large parts of the country, up to 70 millimetres in some places. Hydrologists expect further widespread precipitation during the night, with decreasing intensity over the course of Sunday,” said Lower Austria’s Deputy Provincial Governor Stephan Pernkopf. According to calculations, “the storage capacity in Ottenstein will be exhausted” on Sunday. An overflow of the reservoir was predicted.
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