A tornado swept through the German city of Paderborn Friday, injuring at least 30 mense, owerhede gesê, and blew away roofs, toppled trees and sent debris flying for miles.
The twister created a path of destruction from west to east of the city, Paderborn police said, adding it caused 30 aan 40 beserings. Ten minste 10 of those injuries were serious, authorities noted.
Traffic was heavily affected some pathways and parks were closed or impassable, polisie gesê.
Authorities asked residents to stay indoors as “countless danger spots” remained, and rescue efforts were ongoing.
Paderborn is about three hours north of Frankfurt.
A loaf of bread lies among the debris on the edge of a downtown street in Paderborn on May 20, 2022.
Much of northern Germany was under a threat level 3 (uit 3) for severe storms Friday, Volgens die European Storm Forecast Experiment. The level indicates a possibility for severe to extremely severe wind gusts, groot hael, tornadoes and heavy rain, het die span gesê.
“A dangerous situation is expected that may feature a convective windstorm with long swaths of severe to extremely severe wind gusts and several supercells with large hail and tornadoes with the highest threat over central parts of Germany,” Estofex said.
There were several other tornado reports Friday, including one in the Netherlands, close to the German border and three in Germany, CNN meteorologist Taylor Ward said.
While tornadoes in Europe are not uncommon, daar are usually far fewer twisters than are recorded in the US annually. Van 2011 aan 2020, the US averaged a preliminary total of 1,173 tornadoes per year, and Europe around 256, CNN has previously berig.
European Russia (which is the part of the country west of 58 degrees East longitude), tops the list at 86 tornadoes annually, while Germany comes in second with an average of 28 tornadoes annually.
The peak density of tornado reports coincides with the high population density over Belgium, Nederland, and northern Germany, according to a study on severe storms in Europe published in December 2020.
