37-year-old killed by falling tree Emergency crews respond to 70 storm-related calls in Bonn and the region
Brühl · The fire department was called out more than 70 times in Bonn and the region on Monday, mostly due to fallen trees. One person was killed in North Rhine-Westphalia when a heavy wind gust caused a tree to fall on a motorist.
Heavy gusts of wind knocked down numerous trees in North Rhine-Westphalia on Monday, with fatal consequences for one person. In Ochtrup in Münsterland, a tree fell on a moving car and killed the 37-year-old driver. "It is likely that this is related to the storm," said a spokesman for the district police there. In many places, trees damaged cars and blocked roads. On several railway lines, trees fell on overhead lines and blocked the routes for hours.
Fallen trees cause havoc for traffic
In the Rhein-Sieg district, the fire department had to deal almost exclusively with roofs and fallen trees in their response to 63 calls. According to the rescue control center there, no persons were injured. The Bonn Fire Department was busy with fallen branches and fences and an unstable scaffolding on Turmstrasse in Plittersdorf.
The police and fire departments responsible reported that a tree crashed onto the road on the A4 near Kerpen. Two trucks and two cars were badly damaged but nobody was injured. In Bochum, a tree fell on two moving cars, but the occupants escaped without injury. In Dortmund, fallen trees led to two rear-end collisions. One person suffered minor injuries.
The storm caused several blockages in rail traffic in North Rhine-Westphalia. A tree fell on the S9 line between Wülfrath-Aprath and Wuppertal-Vohwinkel. The trains from Haltern/Bottrop ended in Velbert-Nierenhof. At the S3 (Hattingen - Oberhausen) a tree between Bochum-Dahlhausen and Hattingen blocked the train traffic. There were also disturbances at Rheinbach and Lippstadt. However, the lines there were already single-lane again by noon.
Strongest wind was 97 kilometers per hour
A railway spokesman said that there had been about a dozen disturbances on Monday, most of which had been quickly remedied. All routes were expected to be cleared by the afternoon. There were also disruptions in long-distance traffic. For several lines that run through NRW, the railway expected delays of about 45 minutes.
The strongest gust of 97 kilometers per hour was registered by the German Weather Service on Monday morning in Bad Lippspringe (Paderborn district), according to preliminary information. This corresponds to wind force 10 ("heavy storm"). Also in Essen (95), Nörvenich (90) and on the Kahler Asten (90) there were heavy gusts with this wind strength as well. The weather service also registered very strong winds in Münster, Düsseldorf and Cologne. Orig. text: dpa Translation: Carol Kloeppel