30 missions in Upper Austria

Rain kept firefighters up all night

The barefoot hiker is rescued from the Traunstein(Bild: Bergrettung Gmunden)

Up to almost 50 liters of rain per square meter in a short period of time and strong winds of up to 70 km/h - there was a lot to do for the fire departments in Upper Austria on Wednesday night. Throughout the night and into the morning, dozens of fire brigades were deployed in flood operations. And a hiker got into trouble on the Traunstein.

The 44-year-old from Innviertel had reached the summit of the Traunstein via the Naturfreundesteig without shoes or suitable clothing and wanted to descend via the Hans-Hernlersteig at 7 pm, but other hikers advised him not to, so he took the Mairalmsteig.

The descent from the Traunstein was challenging in the heavy rain - the barefoot hiker was well secured(Bild: Bergrettung Gmunden)

At an altitude of 1120 meters at the so-called Bründl, he was no longer able to continue on his own due to the heavy rain, complete soaking and hypothermia. He alerted the emergency services at around 9 pm. Several mountain rescuers and alpine police climbed up to him, provided him with warm, dry clothing and guided him safely down to the valley on a rope, where he was able to start his journey home at around midnight.

Rain center over Vöcklabruck district
The alarms were received most frequently in Obernberg am Inn, Regau and Vöcklabruck, with the siren wailing eleven times in Regau alone. In total, 30 flood operations had to be dealt with throughout the district.

Almost all of them involved pumping out cellars, and on one occasion the rescue services also called on the Floriani team to assist with rescuing people.

The heavy rain had already started at around 5 p.m. and lasted all night in some cases. In Rohrbach-Berg, the fire department was only called out shortly before 6 a.m. for the last storm operation to date.

According to initial reports, no one was injured during the operations, and as the rain has cleared, the helpers do not expect any further problems.