Due to heavy rainfall and severe thunderstorms, there were numerous operations in Vienna on Thursday evening. In Antonie-Platzer-Gasse in Penzing, a detached house caught fire after being struck by lightning. According to the professional fire department, the roof had to be opened with chainsaws. The fire was extinguished with three extinguishing lines.

15 meter high tree split by lightning
On Währingerstraße, lightning had split a tree around 15 meters high. According to the emergency services, a large section had come to rest on the residential building, which had to be removed by the firefighters.

As reported, there was also excitement on the Gürtel: due to the heavy rain, it was even under water at times. A number of traffic lights were out of action and there were immediate traffic jams. 

Some people also had to remain without power during the evening hours, and a total of around 20 people were trapped in elevators. The occupants had to be rescued. The fire department also had to deal with loose components, fallen trees and broken branches.

Between 9 p.m. and 2 a.m., this resulted in around 70 operations. 

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