Austria battles major flooding after record downpours

Published
0

Heavy rains lashed Alpine regions of Austria and left parts of Vienna under water at the weekend, causing severe damage in parts of the country and disrupting road and rail transport, authorities and local media said.

Fast-moving torrents of muddy water swept cars through the ski resort of St. Anton, in western Austria, on Friday, footage posted on social media showed. Meanwhile, record rainfall hit parts of Vienna in the east of the country on Saturday, state broadcaster ORF said.

A woman was dragged under a bus by the force of flooding in the Doebling area in the north of the city on Saturday, ORF said. She was taken to hospital in a critical condition, it added.

Fire services in the capital were called out more than 450 times on Saturday as the downpours caused traffic chaos and disrupted rail transport, according to ORF.

“Heavy storms have done great damage in many parts of Austria,” Chancellor Karl Nehammer said on X, thanking officials who were working to clear up the damage.

In Vienna’s Doebling district, officials registered 110 litres of rain per square metre, which ORF Vienna meteorologist Kevin Hebenstreit said was a record for August rainfall in the city.

A large proportion of Vienna’s average summer rainfall hit on Saturday in just one hour, according to weather data firm UBIMET.

On average in August, it rains a total of 68 litres per square metre, with the all-time record being 139 litres on May 15, 1885, according to ORF.

Follow Dawn Business on X, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook for insights on business, finance and tech from Pakistan and across the world.

Opinion

Editorial

Expanding conflict
31 Jul, 2026

Expanding conflict

WITH neither of the belligerents willing to back down, and the theatre of conflict expanding geographically, the...
Spoils and spats
31 Jul, 2026

Spoils and spats

A FIGHT over assembly seats in Azad Jammu and Kashmir has laid bare what seem to be some deep resentments between ...
Unfair tax system
31 Jul, 2026

Unfair tax system

THE disclosure that the FBR collected nearly Rs1.9tr in sales and income taxes through electricity bills over the...
Debt that stays
30 Jul, 2026

Debt that stays

THE power sector’s circular debt grew by Rs61bn in the last fiscal year, taking the total to roughly Rs1.67tr from...
HIV warning
30 Jul, 2026

HIV warning

THE HIV infections detected around two SESSI-run hospitals in Karachi demand far more than another hurried committee...
End trafficking
30 Jul, 2026

End trafficking

MODERN slavery, in the form of human trafficking, is among the state’s gravest failures. Scores of Pakistanis are...