After the devastating floods in Lower Austria, twelve villages and areas were still inaccessible or difficult to reach yesterday. Since the beginning of the storm last weekend, the emergency services have already completed 17,107 missions. A total of 2,984 fire departments, 49,153 firefighters, and 5,472 vehicles were involved.
The insurance industry is expecting massive amounts of damage following the recent storms in Austria. According to the Austrian Insurance Association (VVO), damage worth up to 600 to 700 million euros is expected. As the clean-up work progresses, a meteorologist now explains why the devastating flood of the century occurred.
ORF meteorologist Manuel Oberhuber now explains in a series of tweets how the flood came about. He gives 7 reasons:
- The strength of the low & the high. The difference in air pressure was very large for days.
- The speed of the low pressure system. The low moved very slowly from Friday to Monday.
- The path of the low. The low pressure system not only moved slowly, but also around Austria.
- Climate change. The high air and water temperatures in the eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea are a consequence of this.
- The occlusion point (OP). This area is known for particularly heavy rain during lows.
- The congestion at the Alps. If the air flows from the north towards the mountains, it is forced to rise.
- Convergence, i.e. the convergence of the wind. When air flows together, it has to rise, which in turn leads to condensation and more rain. The stronger the convergence, the heavier the rain.
- Finally, the ORF meteorologist explains that lows with this type of track, which bring particularly heavy rain, have been 13% more frequent in recent decades and have led to around 20% more precipitation.
- source: wetter.at/picture: Image by Markus Distelrath from Pixabay
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