Flooding in underpass

Driver was trapped in the masses of water

This driver was stuck in a flooded underpass in Gloggnitz near the construction site for the Semmering Base Tunnel - the fire department arrived.(Bild: Einsatzdoku.at)

Small-scale, but all the more violent: thunderstorms with heavy rain have now flooded two towns in Lower Austria. The heavens had opened their floodgates over Hollabrunn and Gloggnitz.

Mother Nature demonstrates her powers time and again in Gloggnitz, district of Neunkirchen, and not only during frequent earthquakes. On Saturday, the heavens opened their floodgates over the town and the region from Maria Schutz to Trattenbach. "Enormous amounts of rain poured down, entire streets were flooded," reported the emergency services.

Car drivers rescued
300 firefighters tackled the floods in cellars, garages and gardens. A railroad underpass was also flooded - a driver underestimated the situation, his car got stuck and the Gloggnitz town fire department had to rescue the man from the car. The clean-up work continued on Sunday.

Softened slopes and embankments also slid down.(Bild: Einsatzdoku.at)

Sandbags were used to try to contain the floods.(Bild: Einsatzdoku.at)

Alleys in the Gloggnitz region turned into streams.(Bild: Einsatzdoku.at)

"Clearance" only after the mud has been removed
Meanwhile, the clean-up work continued in Hollabrunn on Sunday. The most difficult part, the removal of tons of mud that had been washed into the town, required heavy equipment before work could continue. There was great relief when the washed-out railroad line was repaired and the trains to Vienna and Znojmo were able to run again.

Only then could the detailed work be tackled.(Bild: Andreas Leisser)

Heavy equipment had to be used to remove the mud in Hollabrunn.(Bild: OBI Ing. Stefan Obritzhauser)

Transformer station under water 
Another complicating factor was that there was no power supply in some regions. The main transformer, which supplies the town from the high-voltage grid, was lucky: the water rose higher and higher. "We were close to having to switch it off - the water level miraculously leveled out five centimetres beforehand," report the emergency services. The weather data was also monitored closely: "Another storm cell approached at the weekend, but it dissipated again," reported a Floriani.