At least one dead and about 40 injured after the passage of a tornado in western Germany

At least one person has died and another 40 have been seriously injured after the passage of a tornado and violent storms, according to the German newspaper Bild, which have practically destroyed the cities of Paderborn, Wittgert and Lippstadt this Friday afternoon in the west from Germany.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
20 May 2022 Friday 14:45
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At least one dead and about 40 injured after the passage of a tornado in western Germany

At least one person has died and another 40 have been seriously injured after the passage of a tornado and violent storms, according to the German newspaper Bild, which have practically destroyed the cities of Paderborn, Wittgert and Lippstadt this Friday afternoon in the west from Germany. In several videos recorded by neighbors and circulating on social networks, roofs are seen flying, houses destroyed, trees knocked down and debris spewed from the tornado by the force of the wind.

A 38-year-old man and a resident of Wittgert has so far been the only fatality from the violent storms in Germany. According to local authorities and collected by some German media, he died after being electrocuted in the basement of the house he went to take shelter from the storm. "An acquaintance of the family who lives in that house suffered an electric shock just as he reached the basement, which was flooded, fell and probably hit his head," a police officer from this town told the media.

"Between 30 and 40 injured, at least 10 of them in high severity," Paderborn police said on the Friday after the tornado. They urged people to stay indoors so as not to hamper rescue efforts or put themselves in danger.

Heavy storm damage was also reported in the nearby town of Lippstadt. The bell tower of a church in the city collapsed and the German news agency DPA reported that more than 100 people were temporarily trapped in a local outdoor swimming pool after fallen trees blocked the exit. The regional fire service said all available rescue teams were being deployed to the area.

Bavarian authorities said 14 people were injured when the wooden cabin they were trying to shelter in collapsed during a storm at Lake Brombach, south of Nuremberg. Among the injured were several children and a 37-year-old woman, who was airlifted to a hospital with serious injuries. Schools in the western city of Cologne closed before noon on Friday to give students time to get home safely before the storms hit. Further south, in Ahrweiler County, all schools remained closed Friday. More than 130 people died in the region last summer after it was hit by flash flooding in July.

Forecasters had warned that heavy rain and hail were expected in central and western Germany on Friday, with storms producing wind gusts of up to 130 kilometers per hour. Thursday's storms had already disrupted traffic, uprooted trees that collapsed onto train tracks and highways, and flooded hundreds of basements in western Germany.


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