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Storm Wreaks Havoc in Austria
2004 11 20

Vienna - Gale-force winds wreaked havoc across Austria on Saturday, tearing a balcony from a house and critically injuring a workman below, sending a large billboard crashing into a Vienna street and knocking out power to thousands of homes.

Authorities closed the north-south A2 highway near the southern city of Graz for more than three hours after 30cm of wind-whipped snow fell on the area, creating a blizzard effect that stranded hundreds of motorists.

Several fatal accidents were reported, including a collision of two minivans that killed a 32-year-old man and injured two young children, Austrian television said.

Police said several hundred cars spun out of control and ended up stuck in snowbanks along the highway, where visibility was poor as gusts exceeding 100km/h blew snow into the air. Many of the stranded cars had not been fitted with snow tyres, authorities said.

"It was a very serious situation. Even the firefighters had trouble driving through that weather," said fire department spokesperson Robert Karger. Police reported numerous head-on collisions apparently caused when powerful gusts pushed cars over the centre line and into oncoming traffic.

A window balcony torn by a microburst of wind from the third floor of a house in Graz struck a 31-year-old workman from Bosnia on the ground, critically injuring him, Austrian radio said. The victim was hospitalised with serious head injuries.

Heavy winds were blamed for damage to homes, businesses and property across Austria, where thousands of households were without electricity.

Wind ripped a large advertising billboard from its aluminum frame and sent it crashing down onto a street near the UN complex in Vienna, police said. No one was injured.

In the eastern province of Burgenland, a flower vendor's van tumbled over an embankment, killing one of the passengers, an Egyptian national, and seriously injuring the two other occupants.

Firefighters in the southwestern province of Carinthia worked overnight to clear streets of debris and remove fallen trees from rooftops and overhead power lines. A minor earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 2.6 shook that area Friday night, the Austrian Earthquake Service said on Saturday. There were no reports of injuries or damage.

At the St Gilgen ski resort in Salzburg province, heavy winds prompted officials to cancel the gondola service shuttling skiers and snowboarders to the summit. Local authorities also canceled a mountain rescue exercise, saying it was too windy to conduct the training.

Article From: http://www.earthchangestv.com/secure/2004/article_5231.php


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