Austria experienced severe weather and a violent snowstorm on Friday that brought public life to a near standstill, killing at least five people, leaving tens of thousands of homes without power and causing widespread chaos in air and land transport, prompting a large-scale mobilization by local authorities and emergency teams.
Details of the victims and tragic incidents
In further details of the incidents caused by the storm, Austrian police confirmed the death of a 53-year-old man in the northern city of Linz. He was tragically killed when a snowplow fell on him inside a residential complex. In a separate incident highlighting the perilous conditions in the mountains, four skiers were killed in avalanches that struck Tyrol, a major winter sports destination.
These incidents bring the death toll from avalanches in Austria this winter season to 21, a worrying figure that has prompted authorities to intensify their warnings. Tyrolean authorities have urged all skiers and tourists to exercise extreme caution and stay away from unpaved slopes, emphasizing that the risk level will remain high in the coming days due to the unstable snow cover.
Paralysis in infrastructure and transportation
The storm's damage wasn't limited to loss of life; it also impacted infrastructure, with heavy snowfall reaching up to 40 centimeters in some areas of the Alps since Thursday. This rapid accumulation prompted red alerts in southeastern Austria, particularly around the city of Graz.
In Vienna, authorities were forced to suspend air traffic throughout the morning due to poor weather conditions and ice accumulation on the runways, before flights gradually resumed by midday. On the road, the city's outer ring road (A21) was closed for several hours, and large sections of highways were impassable due to stuck trucks and poor visibility, according to the National Automobile Association.
Regional impacts and power outages
The effects of the storm extended to the energy sector, with electricity companies reporting power outages across large areas of the south and north of the country. In Styria alone, some 30,000 homes were plunged into darkness due to damage to the power grid caused by snow and wind.
Geographically, Austria was not the only victim of this polar wave, as the impact extended to neighboring Slovenia, where local media reported that about 40,000 homes were affected by power outages, and there were major disruptions to transportation in the northeast of the country, reflecting the size and strength of the storm hitting Central Europe and the Alps at this time of year.
