Crazy Storm Weather and Lightning - Global

[Ca.]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1407813476563705862

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1407533072162066433

The storm intensifies in Coatzacoalcos @spcver @SkyAlertStorm

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1405922908308914177

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1407766040877187077

Orage seen from the airport of #Lyon#SaintExupery .

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1407790566369288193

Stunning images of rain and hail accumulations at #Décines tonight in the metropolis of #Lyon ! The storm was virulent over the Lyonnais. (video @ant_steyer)

 

[Gary]

Rare tornado kills three people and injures hundreds more in the Czech Republic​

One Czech TV station said the tornado may have been a F3 or F4 on the Fujita scale, rated at "significant" to "severe" damage. Meteorologist Michal Žák said it was "probably the strongest tornado in recent [Czech]history" and very uncommon in Europe reports RT.

This major and rare tornado in Europe comes only days after powerful storms ripped through Belgium, including a tornado that obliterates almost 100 homes in country's south.

To understand why this uptick in tornadic activity may be occurring now see comment here: More intense and frequent thunderstorms linked to global climate variability

 

[Εἰρήνη]

Right now thunderstorms, heavy rains and even tornados in some unusial places are being reported all over the planet in both hemispheres. Has this happened before in a recoded history?
The cause is probably on many levels. And the situation on the planet is definitely getting serious.
Very interesting to know the opinion of the Cs

 

[Εἰρήνη]

Sorry, I did not finish my previous message as intended


"Global superstorm" no doubt.
The timing is matching with the forced vccntion in Russia and many other countries.
In Crimea on the night of the torrentic flood the government took hundreds of children from the biggest and oldest summer camp (many children are the best in the country in science, sports and other disciplines and got there as a reward from the goverment) and locked them up in another city for 2 weeks for the purpose of "quaranteening". Parents are very disturbed and cannot take their children home.
Also, around the same time as torrental rains and storms continue across Russia in the European part and Siberia, the government ruled that unvccnted people in Moscow cannot visit restaurants,hotels and many other public places and even clinics. Regions followed the trend: Krasnodar region, the highly populated touristic zone located by the Black Sea cost is closing hotels to untested people starting Jul 1, and closing to unvccnted people starting Aug 1. And this is happening at the same time with the government forcing people to either vccnate or to lose their jobs.
This situation repeats in many countries.

In my understanding this acceleration with forced measures is manifesting as a "global superstorm"

Plus, I noticed that sometimes reports about meteoroids or comet sigtings correlate with other events in those same regions (social,weather, any). For example, a mereoroid flew over the eastern part of Bavaria and southwestern Bohemia. The meteoroid entered the Earth's atmosphere before 22:00 Sunday June 20 (SOTT says on Thursday, but it seems to be incorrect). 4 days later a tornado was formed late on Thursday June 24 during a series of strong thunderstorms that hit the entire country.
Coincidences?

P.S.: while verifying the date of the Chech meteoroid event I found a curious article:A NASA exercise at the recent Planetary Defense Conference culminated with an asteroid striking Bohemia with the force of a nuclear bomb.

A NASA exercise at the recent Planetary Defense Conference culminated with an asteroid striking Bohemia with the force of a nuclear bomb.​

Published on 01.05.2021

 

[Mari]

Yesterday a hailstorm the size of a walnut smashed roofs, cars and work machines around Požega, Croatia

VIDEO Tuča veličine oraha porazbijala krovove, automobile i radne strojeve u Požegi i okolici

Državni hidrometeorološki zavod izdao je upozorenje za grmljavinsko nevrijeme kasno poslijepodne i osobito navečer na području Međimurja, Hrvatskog zagorja, Podravine te Slavonije i Baranje. Ono što su najavljivali, i ostvarilo se. Jaka tuča pogodila je poslijepodne istok zemlje.

dnevnik.hr

Residents in Vidovci shovel ice off the road

VIDEO Nevjerojatno: Stanovnici u Vidovcima lopatama s ceste razgrću led

Nevrijeme koje se za petak poslijepodne najavljivalo za dijelove Hrvatske, stiglo je prvo na istok.

dnevnik.hr

 

[Εἰρήνη]

P.S.: p.s.:
Just an entertaining article:

Meteor fireball over the southwest of Bohemia, Czech Republic​

The meteoroid entered the Earth's atmosphere on Thursday shortly before 10:00 pm in the area around the German city of Deggendorf. "At that time, the body was moving at a speed of 11.7 kilometers per second, and along a runway sloping to the earth's surface of less than 25 degrees, it continued to fly in an east-southeast direction and gradually brightened.
The meteoroid crossed the border over the Šumava Trojmezí and then faded near the Lipno dam at a height of 32 kilometers. He covered his entire 111-kilometer track in 11 seconds.

"During the flight through the atmosphere, the vast majority of the original mass of this small meteoroid, about the size of a handball, was consumed. Nevertheless, several small fragments could have landed on the earth's surface in a relatively large area approximately between Černá v Pošumaví and Rožmitál na Šumavě.

This is the path of the meteor presented in the above article:

Purple area is the asteroid impact zone projected by NASA back in January/February 2021

NASA Projected strike zone

Whaat? this is the SAME AREA. What is so attractive about that area?

NASA simulates hypothetical asteroid strike in the Czech Republic

A NASA exercise at the recent Planetary Defense Conference culminated with an asteroid striking Bohemia with the force of a nuclear bomb.​

Published on 01.05.2021 14:15 (updated on 02.05.2021)

A five-day NASA exercise carried out at the Planetary Defense Conference last week culminated with an asteroid striking Earth with the force of a nuclear bomb -- just outside Český Krumlov, Czech Republic.
There's no need to worry: the asteroid strike was a purely hypothetical exercise intended to gauge response from international players to a potential extinction-level threat event.
Things began on Monday, April 26, with the simulated discovery of a large asteroid on a potential collision course with Earth. Initially, the impact chance was low, projected at about 1 in 2500.
Each day during the course of the exercise represented about a month in real time, with a potential impact date in late October. Daily updates represented weeks of developments in tracking the asteroid's progress. By Day 2 (May 20) in the exercise, the asteroid's chances of impact increased to 100%, with a projected impact zone stretching from the Arctic Circle to North Africa and covering much of Central Europe.
By Day 3 (June 30), the impact zone had narrowed to Europe. Austria and Bohemia, the western half of the Czech Republic, were the center of a projected impact zone, which represented the area the asteroid would hit.
At this stage, a larger damage swath presented areas that would be directly affected by the asteroid's impact, estimated to be on the level of an nuclear bomb. The entire Czech Republic was within a 'severe' range, with Prague within a level of 'unsurvivable'. By the final update, six days from impact, the asteroid's path had been pinpointed to a location in southwestern Czech Republic, by the German and Austrian borders near Český Krumlov. The UNESCO World Heritage Site would presumably be decimated by the impact.
The exercise was carried out to help coordinate international defense systems in the event of a worldwide threat, and establish avenues of communication for such a scenario.
"Each time we participate in an exercise of this nature, we learn more about who the key players are in a disaster event, and who needs to know what information, and when," said NASA planetary defense officer Lindley Johnson in a press statement.

 

[lilies]

Another tornado in London:

Freakishly powerful gusts of wind blew through the London borough of Barking on Friday and left the neighbourhood in utter disarray, with videos and photographs documenting the tornado-like aftermath of the bizarre weather event.

WATCH: Violent winds topple trees & brick walls after ‘tornado’ rips through London borough​

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1408505148197019650

I think this is the result of totalitarian lockdowns, the heavily abused Human Creative Energy trashing around in the atmosphere. Released by people gnashing their teeth helplessly, powerlessly at über-corrupt governments around the world.

 

[lostinself]

P.S.: p.s.:
Just an entertaining article:
[...]

Whaat? this is the SAME AREA. What is so attractive about that area?

NASA simulates hypothetical asteroid strike in the Czech Republic

Very hard for me to see a mere coincidence here. Did they maybe detect this small space rock back in April (or earlier), were able to calculate the location of the potential hit, and then modelled the "Event" after it?

As for the storms 2 nights ago, Czech Republic wasn't the only country affected. The front "travelled" through Southern & Eastern Poland, with storms recorded also in Sankt Petersburg, if i'm not mistaken. It's wasn't the first time the storms followed this general trajectory, heading North-East, but this time it was exceptionally severe, and occuring deeper into the East. There was a tornado in Poland as well, although not nearly as destructive.

 

[XPan]

Tropical Storm alt. Hurricane
South America ?

As I earlier read about the wicked weather events; of both extreme heat in British Columbia / NW US - and exceptional anomalies over South America on the cold side - my eyes lingered around various weather charts e.g. satellite charts from South America - and to my surprise I see outside of Uruguay - the formation of a well developed tropical storm, possibly a CAT 1 hurricane; with a very apparent eye feature !

That's a rather rare event (albeit appears to have become somewhat more frequent since hurricane "Catarina" made landfall in Brazil, back in March 2004).

 

[Puma]

Im not in South America but this is interesting

An extremely rare hurricane named Raoni with winds of 75mph developed south of the Atlantic near Uruguay and Brazil in South America. Right where there are cold waters and it's the dead of winter. It is the second time in the history of the southern Atlantic Ocean that a tropical system of such intensity has developed.




More info: En vivo: Un ciclón extratropical esta azotando Argentina y Uruguay

 

[Mari]

Storms in Germany, Switzerland and France cause dozens of road accidents and floods

Storms in Germany, Switzerland and France cause dozens of road accidents and floods / day - World Today News

In Germany, thunderstorms and heavy rains have affected southern and western Germany. Bavaria has flooded several villages, including Memlingen near Frankfurt, where water and mud have flooded the streets and cellars. In Stuttgart, on Monday evening, the wind tore off part of the roof of the...

www.world-today-news.com

In Germany, thunderstorms and heavy rains have affected southern and western Germany.

Bavaria has flooded several villages, including Memlingen near Frankfurt, where water and mud have flooded the streets and cellars.

In Stuttgart, on Monday evening, the wind tore off part of the roof of the opera house and toppled several statues. The opera stage has been partially flooded, and a large piece of siding has fallen into the opera garden. During the storm, a performance took place at the opera, which was attended by about 250 people, but no one was injured.


Opera director Oliver Hendrik told AFP news that the damage to the opera is still being assessed.

In Stuttgart, rescue services received more than 330 calls and the storm disrupted train traffic for several hours. Firefighters had to remove fallen trees from the rails.

There are also several road tunnels in and around Stuttgart. The city also experienced strong hail and flooded streets.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1409747632973516820

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1409785583581503489

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1409755763963314176

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1409628204155953152

In Baden-Württemberg, where Stuttgart is located, as well as in Bavaria and Hesse, the rain has been particularly heavy. Dozens of road accidents have been registered there. There have been seven accidents on the A3 and A48 motorways, in which one person has been seriously injured and three minor injuries.

In Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate, the emergency services have received hundreds of calls about flooded basements, fallen trees, landslides and drivers stuck in their cars.

In Switzerland, in the canton of Lucerne, the size of hail has reached seven centimeters in diameter, while in the canton of Friborg, police and firefighters have received about 300 calls, including about 16 students and two adults surprised by a strong hail. Six children and one adult were hospitalized.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1409579807503962112

https://twitter.com/Roli_Net/status/1406634927123308547?s=20

At least five people have been affected by the storms in German-speaking Swiss cantons, including a cyclist injured in a head-on hail, the Swiss news agency ATS reported.

In the Vosges region of France, hailstones fell several centimeters thick on Tuesday, and people had to resort to snow shovels.

https://twitter.com/JeanROTTNER/status/1409863650593083406?s=20

https://twitter.com/SDIS88/status/1409795112377401347?s=20

https://twitter.com/alex_le_bars/status/1409868022387515403?s=20

https://twitter.com/baillydavid88/status/1409854050946932745?s=20

The meteorological service “Meteo France” has issued warnings about possible storms in the north-east of France.

In Germany, meteorologists predict that bad weather will continue until Tuesday evening, with possible new thunderstorms and heavy rain.

 

[Gary]

In the Vosges region of France, hailstones fell several centimeters thick on Tuesday, and people had to resort to snow shovels.

From The Local France:

French town hit by freak June hailstorm​

A French town has been hit by a freak hailstorm that left locals clearing drifts of ice in the streets with shovels and snow ploughs.

The hail struck the town of Plombières-les-Bains in the Vosges mountains on Tuesday morning.

Romain Munier, head of communications for the local emergency services, told French media: "There were up to 60 centimetres of accumulated hail" while in the wider area, "up to 10 millimetres of water accumulated in six minutes".

Locals were pictured clearing the street of ice with shovels and snow ploughs after the storm passed and the fire and rescue crews for the Vosges area said they had received 56 callouts in total.

 

[lilies]

Over 100 die suddenly in Vancouver area in 4 days, police say, as heat wave batters Western Canada

“Heat is believed to be a contributing factor in the majority of the deaths. Many of the deceased have been seniors, [..]

A spike in deaths has been reported in Canada’s British Columbia as it bears the brunt of a record-breaking heat wave stifling the country. Dozens of people are believed to have fallen victim to the extreme temperatures.

A wave of searing heat has plagued Canada’s western provinces since Friday, resulting in an overwhelming number of 911 calls to emergency services and police responding to a dramatically increased number of deaths. In Vancouver, police reported 65 sudden deaths between last Friday and Tuesday afternoon. On Tuesday alone, some 20 sudden deaths were reported just after noon – roughly five times the number typically reported in a day, CBC Canada reported.

in Metro Vancouver: 28 sudden deaths from Monday till Tuesday afternoon
In Burnaby:25 sudden deaths since Monday (today is Thursday)

While the exact causes of the deaths are still under investigation, the officials link the skyrocketing number of fatalities to the record-breaking heat spell.

 

[XPan]

Stuttgart, Germany • Extreme hail event • 1972
A bell rang among my memories

I hope it is ok - that I write about a past, but similar hail event which took place over Stuttgart, Germany - albeit 49 years ago.

My mom and I had visited my grandmother Elfriede who lived in Stuttgart, and i remember when the city was hit by a catastrophic thunderstorm / hail and flood event. Decades later I found out that this storm took place on 15 Aug 1972 (so, I was 7 years old back then).

It is a vague memory in terms of "images" - but the signature from the sudden onset of emotions (and confusion) filling the air, I remember very well. The whole apartment felt as if a sudden spike of strong upset-ness / worry occupied the air. Also spoken fragments; such as "flooded city tunnel", "people trapped in cars" and "flooded basements". My grandfather was out with the car and grandmother Elfriede was endlessly worried. From the hail event itself, I don't remember anything (but I suspect there is more, but it is just a feeling)

Stuttgart is like a kettle, surrounded by hills. What flows down - will collect in the center of the city. Many streets go downwards pretty steeply.

A severe hailstorm event took place over Stuttgart on 15 August 1975, dropping 50 mm rain together with storm gusts ripping off roofs and knocked down trees and flooded tunnels. Many cars got stuck in the cold water and ice slush that collected rapidly in the center - and created massive destruction across the city and one suburb - for 100 million Deutsche Mark (52 million € in 1972). 7 people died. Ultimately the amount of hail was the devastating factor and Stuttgart's topography, with hail up to 1 meter deep, even pushing down along escalators into the subway.

It was called "The catastrophe came out of Nowhere"

1' 8" clip from 1972


Below you can read an article from "Stuttgarter Zeitung" in german language, as well the english (DeepL) translation

Spoiler: Das Unglück kam aus dem Nichts - Stuttgart 1972

Katastrophe von 1972
Von Cedric Rehman (2013)

Das Unglück kam aus dem Nichts

Am 15. August 1972 verwüstet ein Starkgewitter die Landeshauptstadt: Tennisballgroße Hagelkörner gehen über Stuttgart nieder, Sturmböen fegen durch die Straßen, Dächer werden abgedeckt. Das Unwetter hatte katastrophale Folgen.

Stuttgart - Die Menschen klammern sich an ihre Autodächer und suchen irgendwo nach Halt. Unter ihnen bewegen sich die Fahrzeuge in einem schaumigen Cocktail von Eis und Regenwasser wie Korken. Das Eis schwimmt wie eine Krone auf dem Bier. Eine dichte, weiße Masse bis zu 20 Zentimeter dick. Das eiskalte Wasser darunter steigt langsam zur Decke der Unterführung in der Innenstadt hin an. Dieter Jarausch steuert ein Schlauchboot mit einem Paddel durch das Gemisch von Hagelkörnern und Regen. Das Schlauchboot bewegt sich auf die Menschen zu, die auf ihren Autos sitzen und um Hilfe rufen. Viele haben das Autodachfenster aufgekurbelt und sich selbst nach oben gezogen, als die Flut in die Unterführung strömt.

Jetzt klettern sie mit Hilfe des jungen Feuerwehrreferendars in das Gummiboot. „In dem Moment wussten wir nicht, ob und wie viele es nicht geschafft haben und in den Autos stecken geblieben sind. Wir haben damals mit Toten gerechnet“, erinnert sich Jarausch, mittlerweile im Ruhestand, mit 40 Jahren Abstand zum Geschehen. Die Feuerwehr habe zunächst die Taucher nicht einsetzen können: „Der Einsatzwagen mit dem ganzen Gerät war im Regen selbst abgesoffen.“

An diesem 15. August 1972 ist Jarausch ein junger Feuerwehrmann, der aus Berlin gekommen ist, um in Stuttgart den praktischen Teil seiner Ausbildung für den höheren Dienst bei der Berufsfeuerwehr abzuleisten. Zur Begrüßung hieß es, Stuttgart sei ein ruhiges Einsatzgebiet. „Daran musste ich denken, als wir in der Unterführung die Menschen retteten“, erinnert er sich.
Gespenstisch verfärbter Himmel

Zwei Stunden vor dem Unwetter fuhr er mit einem Vorgesetzten durch die Stadt mit ihren vielen Unterführungen und Tunnels. Der Himmel hatte sich kurz nach drei Uhr über der ganzen Stadt gespenstisch verfärbt. „Es war eher gelblich als dunkel“, so Jarausch. Als er mit den Kollegen durch einen Tunnel fuhr, erinnerte er sich an eine Unterführung in Berlin. Sie stand bei heftigen Gewittern regelmäßig unter Wasser. Ob dies auch manchmal in Stuttgart passiere, wollte er von den Kollegen wissen. „Wir sind hier nicht in Berlin. Wir haben moderne Pumpen“, lautete die Antwort. Als die Feuerwehrleute den Tunnel verließen, regnete und hagelte es bereits so stark, dass ein Kamerad mit Helm sich aus dem Fenster lehnte, um dem Fahrer den Weg zu weisen. „Durch die Autoscheibe war überhaupt nichts mehr zu sehen.“

Was war passiert? Die Meteorologen hatten für den 15-minütigen Hagelschauer vom 15. August 1972 einen nüchternen Namen: Starkgewitter. Der Leiter des Regionalen Klimabüros des Deutschen Wetterdienstes in Freiburg, Jochen Bläsing, verweist auf die Statistik. Alle fünfzig bis hundert Jahre müssten Stuttgarter demnach mit einem solchen Wetterereignis rechnen. Eine Viertelstunde lang bombardiert eine kilometerbreite Hagelfront die Großstadt mit bis zu tennisballgroßen Eisklumpen. Sturmböen fegen durch die Straßenschluchten, decken Dächer ab und zerlegen Hausfassaden. Bäume werden umgeworfen und liegen in den Straßen. Doch nichts kommt der verheerenden Wirkung des dichten Schauers von Hagelgeschossen gleich. Ihre Größe war erstaunlich, ihre Masse höchst gefährlich.

Wasser der Sintflut

In der Hasenstraße will ein Rentner die Fenster in seinem Keller schließen. Das Wasser der Sintflut soll nicht in das Gebäude eindringen. Doch nicht Wasser, sondern Eis kommt dem Mann entgegen: Hagelkörner zertrümmern die Fenster, strömen in den Keller und werfen den Mann zu Boden. Er erstickt unter den dichten Eismassen, die ihn unter sich begraben.
An der Böblinger Straße kämpfen drei Männer ums Überleben. Die Mitarbeiter der Firma Imperial arbeiten im Keller, als das Unwetter losbricht. In rasender Geschwindigkeit füllen sich alle Luftschächte mit Hagel. Einer der Schächte bricht unter dem Gewicht des gefrorenen Wassers zusammen, das Hochwasser von der Straße ergießt sich als Flutwelle in den Raum. Bald steht es bis knapp unter der Decke. Den Männern bleibt kein Fluchtweg, da der Wasserdruck verhindert, dass sich die Tür öffnen lässt. Sie ertrinken.
Sechs Menschen sterben in der dramatischen Viertelstunde des Unglücks. Nicht nur der Hagel tötet. Im Stuttgarter Osten wird eine Frau von einem Sturzbach mitgerissen, der sich über die Klingenstraße wälzt. Sie bleibt an einem Auto hängen, das der Mahlstrom in Bewegung gesetzt hat und wird ganz vom Wasser bedeckt. Ein 72-Jähriger stirbt an der Sodener Straße, als in seiner Nähe ein Blitz einschlägt.

Der Tag nach der Katastrophe

Am Tag nach der Katastrophe hängt dichter Dunst über der Stadt. Das besonders stark betroffene Heslach liegt unter einer Nebeldecke, als wäre es November und nicht August. In den Straßen verdampfen Tonnen von Eis, die sich zum Teil mannshoch aufgetürmt haben. Die Menschen betrachten die Überbleibsel der Naturgewalt. „Wer das nicht erlebt hat, kann es sich nicht vorstellen“, sagt ein Mann aus Heslach der Stuttgarter Zeitung. Später wird von einem Sachschaden in Höhe von Hunderten Millionen Mark die Rede sein.

Auch das Gottvertrauen vieler Menschen ist erschüttert. Trotz aller schwäbischer Sorgfalt reichte ein Gewitter aus, um die Landeshauptstadt im Chaos versinken zu lassen. Die Pumpen etwa, die unterhalb des Charlottenplatzes bei Regen Wasser absaugen sollten, versagten, weil der Hagel die Abflüsse verstopft hatte. Die Einsatzkräfte mussten von außerhalb verstärkt werden, um Herr der Lage zu werden.


Wenigstens trockene Socken

Dieter Jarausch hatte in den Tagen nach dem Unglück keine Gelegenheit, in seiner eigenen Wohnung nach Schäden zu sehen. Wie viele andere Feuerwehrmänner war er rund um die Uhr im Einsatz. Anders als 500 Männer der Feuerwehr, 250 Polizisten und zahlreichen Helfern der Rettungsdienste war er allerdings nicht auf den Straßen unterwegs. Er saß im Krisenstab, der damals der Stuttgarter Polizei unterstand.

Im Stuttgarter Rathaus verbrachte er noch den ganzen 15. August mit durchnässter Kleidung. „Erst am Tag danach kam ein Mitarbeiter und hat mir Socken in die Hand gedrückt. Dann waren wenigstens mal meine Füße trocken.“ Jarausch beschreibt heute die Stimmung der Rettungskräfte bei aller Betroffenheit als eher gelassen. „Viele haben ja die Bombennächte im Zweiten Weltkrieg noch miterlebt. Das waren harte Kerle“, sagt er. Viele Stuttgarter hätten 1972 noch der Kriegsgeneration angehört, sagt Jarausch. Für ihn ist das Grund, warum selbst die Eingeschlossenen selten in Panik geraten sind. „Die haben im Katastrophenfall gewusst, dass sie da einfach durch müssen.“

Spoiler: Stuttgart • Disaster of 1972

By Cedric Rehman (2013)

The disaster came out of nowhere

On 15 August 1972, a heavy thunderstorm devastated the state capital: tennis-ball-sized hailstones fell on Stuttgart, gales swept through the streets, roofs were covered. The storm had catastrophic consequences.

Stuttgart - People cling to their car roofs, looking for somewhere to hold on. Below them, the vehicles move like corks in a frothy cocktail of ice and rainwater. The ice floats like a crown on beer. A dense white mass up to 20 centimetres thick. The ice-cold water underneath slowly rises towards the ceiling of the subway in the city centre. Dieter Jarausch steers an inflatable boat with a paddle through the mixture of hailstones and rain. The rubber dinghy moves towards the people sitting on their cars and calling for help. Many have cranked open the car roof window and pulled themselves up as the flood pours into the subway.

Now they are climbing into the rubber boat with the help of the young fire officer. "At that moment we didn't know if and how many didn't make it and got stuck in the cars. We expected dead people at that time," recalls Jarausch, now retired, with 40 years of distance from the event. At first, the fire brigade could not use the divers: "The emergency vehicle with all the equipment had itself flooded in the rain."

On this 15 August 1972, Jarausch is a young firefighter who has come from Berlin to complete the practical part of his training for higher service in the professional fire brigade in Stuttgart. As a welcome, he was told that Stuttgart was a quiet operational area. "I had to think about that when we were rescuing people in the subway," he recalls.
Hauntingly coloured sky

Two hours before the storm, he was driving with a supervisor through the city with its many subways and tunnels. The sky had turned a ghostly colour over the whole city shortly after three o'clock. "It was more yellowish than dark," Jarausch said. As he drove through a tunnel with his colleagues, he remembered a subway in Berlin.

It was regularly under water during heavy thunderstorms. He wanted to know from his colleagues whether this also sometimes happened in Stuttgart. "We are not in Berlin here. We have modern pumps," was the answer. When the firefighters left the tunnel, it was already raining and hailing so hard that a comrade in a helmet leaned out of the window to show the driver the way. "There was nothing at all visible through the car window."

What had happened? Meteorologists had a sober name for the 15-minute hailstorm of 15 August 1972: Severe Thunderstorm. The head of the Regional Climate Office of the German Weather Service in Freiburg, Jochen Bläsing, refers to the statistics. According to these statistics, Stuttgart residents have to expect such a weather event every fifty to one hundred years. For a quarter of an hour, a kilometre-wide hail front bombards the city with ice clods up to the size of tennis balls. Gale-force winds sweep through the street canyons, covering roofs and tearing up house fronts. Trees are knocked down and lie in the streets. But nothing equals the devastating effect of the dense shower of hailstones. Their size was astonishing, their mass highly dangerous.


The Flood

In Hasenstraße, a pensioner wants to close the windows in his cellar. He doesn't want the flood water to enter the building. But it is not water but ice that comes towards the man: Hailstones smash the windows, pour into the cellar and throw the man to the ground. He suffocates under the dense masses of ice that bury him.

On Böblinger Straße, three men fight for survival. The employees of the Imperial company are working in the cellar when the storm breaks. At breakneck speed, all the air shafts fill with hail. One of the shafts collapses under the weight of the frozen water, the floodwater from the street pours into the room as a tidal wave. Soon it is just below the ceiling. The men have no escape route because the water pressure prevents the door from opening. They drown.

Six people die in the dramatic quarter of an hour of the disaster. It is not only the hail that kills. In the east of Stuttgart, a woman is swept away by a torrent that rolls down Klingenstraße. She gets caught on a car set in motion by the maelstrom and is completely covered by the water. A 72-year-old man dies on Sodener Straße when lightning strikes near him.


The day after the disaster

On the day after the disaster, a dense haze hangs over the city. Heslach, which was particularly hard hit, lies under a blanket of fog as if it were November and not August. Tons of ice evaporate in the streets, some of it piled up as high as a man. People look at the remnants of the force of nature. "Anyone who hasn't experienced this can't imagine it," a man from Heslach tells the Stuttgarter Zeitung. Later, there is talk of property damage amounting to hundreds of millions of marks.

Many people's trust in God was also shaken. Despite all Swabian diligence, a thunderstorm was enough to plunge the state capital into chaos. The pumps below Charlottenplatz, for example, which were supposed to suck out water when it rained, failed because the hail had clogged the drains. The emergency forces had to be reinforced from outside to cope with the situation.


At least dry socks

Dieter Jarausch had no opportunity to check for damage in his own home in the days after the disaster. Like many other firefighters, he was on duty around the clock. Unlike 500 men of the fire brigade, 250 police officers and numerous helpers of the rescue services, however, he was not on the streets. He sat on the crisis team, which was under the control of the Stuttgart police at the time.

He still spent the whole of 15 August in Stuttgart city hall with soaked clothes. "It wasn't until the day after that that a staff member came and put socks in my hand. Then at least my feet were dry for once." Today, Jarausch describes the mood of the rescue workers as rather relaxed, despite all the consternation. "Many of them had experienced the nights of bombing during the Second World War. They were tough guys," he says. Many Stuttgart residents still belonged to the war generation in 1972, says Jarausch. For him, that is the reason why even those trapped rarely panicked. "In the event of a catastrophe, they knew that they simply had to get through.

 

[XPan]

Correction
(about the 1972 Stuttgart Hail Event)

A severe hailstorm event took place over Stuttgart on 15 August 1975, dropping 50 mm rain together with storm gusts ripping off roofs and knocked down trees and flooded tunnels. Many cars got stuck in the cold water and ice slush that collected rapidly in the center - and created massive destruction across the city and one suburb - for 100 million Deutsche Mark (52 million € in 1972). 7 people died. [6 people died, not 7] Ultimately the amount of hail was the devastating factor and Stuttgart's topography, with hail up to 1 meter deep, even pushing down along escalators into the subway.

Also; I was in the age of 6, not 7.

I found more info about the 1972 event from an old pdf file I had saved on my computer. It covers the areas outside of Stuttgart, in a places like Bühl and Kilchberg damages in the forests (Sengental bei Bühl). Electricity towers fell, up to 70 mm [2.76 inch] precipitation within 45 minutes, up to 60 cm hail accumulation were recorded.



Dettenhausen reported that all roof windows and roller blinds were destroyed. Forests as well Meadow-, residential- and factory buildings were destroyed, streets under water, and cellars flooded - all this within minutes, and similar damages in Tübingen...

The more I read and look at the old images of damages - I wonder if that was a tornado that went through, albeit that is never mentioned by name.