Storm chaos in Knittelfeld: Fire brigade saves enclosed from floods

Storm chaos in Knittelfeld: Fire brigade saves enclosed from floods

In the night of July 8, 2025, the municipalities of Knittelfeld and Spielberg in Styria were hit by intensive storms. These thunderstorm rainfall led to considerable damage and required the use of numerous firefighters. According to Fireworld there were fully running underdresses and problems with Channel shafts.

A total of 48 firefighters were deployed, including the volunteer fire brigades Knittelfeld and Spielberg as well as the company fire brigade of the ÖBB Knittelfeld. Their main task was to secure the affected areas and minimize the damage. One of the greatest challenges was the flooded underpass in Knittelfeld, in which a car driver was included in the vehicle. Operations manager Oberfeuerwehrmann Rene Hammerl coordinated the work that dragged on until the early hours of the morning.

severe weather warnings and forecasts

In the course of the storm situation, the Storm Center stated that the weather conditions are also unstable in other regions. Your overview maps show current severe weather warnings and weather instructions. Two types of warnings are issued: preliminary warnings that take place up to 48 hours in advance, and acute warnings that indicate the reliable arrival of natural hazards.

For the severity of the storms there is a classification in warning levels: from yellow for possible storms to orange for moderate to red for strong storms and violet for extreme weather events. This information is manually adjusted by professional meteorologists and are available at any time.

global weather disasters in focus

The storm in Styria is part of a larger trend that was discussed in a report by the UN World Weather Organization (WMO), which was presented in Geneva. According to The standard were registered more and larger natural disasters worldwide, while the effects of these disasters are unevenly distributed. Fortunately, the data show that the number of deaths from natural disasters has decreased in the past 50 years.

The cooperation between the WMO, the UN office for disaster prevention and the World Health Organization (WHO) aims to improve the prevention and reaction to such extreme weather events. However, the changes in the weather pattern observed in recent years raise questions about future disaster prevention.