storm
“I’ve never experienced that before, our basement was full of water”: Within two hours it rained 60 liters per square meter in Flawil and Wolfertswil
A heavy thunderstorm fell over Flawil early on Thursday afternoon. Gupfengasse and Wilerstrasse have turned into streams. In Wolfertswil, too, the fire and water services had to be deployed and pump out the cellars.
Flawil train station after the hail.
Image: Lara Wüest
After the heavy rainfall, several cellars in Flawil were under water, as confirmed by Hanspeter Krüsi, spokesman for the St.Gallen cantonal police. “The fire department and the water department had to move out.” According to Krüsi, Gupfengasse and Wilerstrasse were particularly affected, as they briefly turned into streams and were white from the hailstones.
Supervisor Petar Stefan from the property at Gupfengasse 45 says: “I’ve never experienced that before. Our basement was full of water. The window well filled with hailstones. And water was forced into the basement through a shaft in the ground. I’ve already cleaned some of it. But I definitely still have an hour of work left.”
Petar Stefan’s basement was flooded. The water was forced through the shaft into the basement.
Image: Lara Wüest
Sonja Brunner also experienced the storm in Flawil: “It was violent. It started at 2:45 p.m. within 10 minutes and lasted probably half an hour. It even rained here.” Some of the hailstones were about the size of cherry stones. Her husband was with the fire department and had to leave at 4 p.m.
Shortly before 5 p.m., Meteo News Switzerland reported the impressive amounts of precipitation in Flawil via the social network X. Within two hours, it rained 60 liters per square meter in this area.
Impressive #Hailgewitter in #Flawil (SG). In the meantime the landscape presented itself under a blanket of white. Within 2 hours it rained 60 liters per square meter, 15 liters of which fell within 10 minutes. There were around 3,000 lightning strikes across Switzerland. To the radar -> (me) pic.twitter.com/YaBqyAkIKS
— MeteoNews Schweiz (@MeteoNewsAG) May 2, 2024
Train traffic was interrupted
Train traffic between Uzwil and Flawil was restricted due to the extraordinary weather event, as reported by the SBB. The restriction lasted until shortly before 6 p.m. Delays and train cancellations had to be accepted.
Wolfertswil in the municipality of Degersheim is also affected by the violent storm. The fire department also had to deal with flooded cellars there. There was also hail in the east of the city of St.Gallen, but no flooding has been reported so far.
Cellars on Gupfengasse in Flawil had to be pumped out.
Image: Lara Wüest
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