According to the State Security Center (LSZ) Burgenland, around 40 fire brigades were deployed and called to around 125 missions.
The first fire brigades were alerted around 4.30 p.m. The last forces moved in at around 11.30 p.m. According to the LSZ, the main center of the thunderstorm cell was above the communities of Litzelsdorf and Oberdorf in the Oberwart district and the communities of Olbendorf, Ollersdorf and Stinatz in the Güssing district.
“There streets were flooded and cellars pumped out,” said an LSZ spokeswoman. In Litzelsdorf, oil leaked from the oil tank of a house. A landslide occurred in Olbendorf, which necessitated a road block.
The center of Ollersdorf was particularly hard hit. “The retention basin in Ollersdorf is full to the brim, the town center is under water,” says District Press Officer Andreas Popofsits. Around 25 private households in the three localities are also affected.
Great damage in agriculture
Not only the southern Burgenland, the entire southern part of Austria was hit by strong storms on Monday. Heavy rain and hail devastated around 7,000 hectares of agricultural land in Carinthia and Styria in addition to southern Burgenland, according to the Hagelversicherung (ÖHV). Wine, fruit and vegetable crops as well as arable and grassland areas were damaged. According to the ÖHV, the total damage is likely to be 2.5 million euros.
The districts of Oberwart and Güssing were affected, and in Carinthia the districts of Sankt Veit an der Glan and Klagenfurt-Land. In Styria, the districts of Murtal, Leoben, Südoststeiermark, Graz-Umgebung, Leibnitz and Weiz were hit by the storm cells, reported the hail insurance company in a broadcast on Monday evening.
–
