Vienna partly under water after record rainfall

Austria's capital Vienna has had a hot and dry August so far. However, extreme amounts of rain fell at the weekend. The deluge resulted in dramatic rescue operations.

One of the casualties was a pedestrian who was caught in the floods and pushed under a parked bus, according to emergency services. The woman was taken to hospital in a life-threatening condition. Roads, cellars and railway tracks were flooded in parts of the city.

More than 110 litres of rain per square metre fell on the outskirts of Vienna on Saturday. This was the highest value for a summer month in the 152-year history of measurements, as reported by the ORF broadcaster. In addition to heavy rain, hail also fell in the Austrian capital. The storm mainly affected the western and northern parts of Vienna.

The fire brigade was called out around 600 times due to the storm, a spokesperson told the German Press Agency on Sunday. Drivers had to be freed from their cars and people were stuck in lifts that were blocked due to water ingress in buildings, the spokesman reported. There were initially no other casualties.

Rail and air traffic were also affected. One train line was temporarily cancelled. There were delays at Vienna Airport, some of which lasted for hours.

Landslides in western Austria

Since Friday, localised storms have also hit other areas of Austria. On the Arlberg, the most important connecting route between the western provinces of Tyrol and Vorarlberg was closed after landslides and a partial collapse of the carriageway.

Clean-up work was underway in St. Anton am Arlberg after a metre-high mudslide hit part of the tourist resort. A bridge was destroyed and several vehicles were swept into a river. No people were injured.

In the Salzburger Land region, a man was seriously injured in Zell am See when debris from a landslide hit a house. In Kaprun, Mayor Domenik David described the situation as «very critical» after several landslides. Access to the reservoirs and the glacier railway was closed. There were also several mudslides in the southern province of Styria.