Wednesday 11 June 2014

The Elements at war

It has been oppressively hot in Germany over the past week or so.  

Hot and extremely humid.

We seemed to go from cool weather in which we wondered whether the summer would ever arrive, to having it suddenly switched on and put on 'extra high'.  The high level of pollution in the skies over  the wide shallow valley in which Dusseldorf sits, combine to keep the heat in one place for long periods of time.
Combine this with hundreds of children under the age of twelve who spend lunchtime running around on the playground, and then come, sweaty and smelly, to the Library for book choice time and I think you get this picture.  With no air conditioning the classrooms and the library gradually warm up and by the time we are ready to go home we are well nigh wilting!

And then on top of all that we have had 'The Storm'.

* * * * * *

Monday was a public holiday (Pentecost Monday) and had proven to be rather a pleasant, albeit warm, day:

In the evening we had dinner on our balcony:

We admired the first of our Asiatic lilies to flower:

An hour later and we were running about battening down the hatches!
http://liveblog.t-online.de/Event/Schwere_Unwetter_wuten_uber_Deutschland_2

The storm came rolling across the sky before we were ready for it.  The clouds were suddenly yellowish and extremely angry looking.  
Full bellied with mischief.
The birds had all gone quiet.  The wind picked up and reading the signs, we and our neighbors began to take down the pot plants, lay the tables and chairs on the balcony floor, and take inside everything that might be considered fragile.  
Then the storm hit.
The sky was suddenly as black as night and the sound of thunder was everywhere. 

(I recall that my great-grandmother had a habit of waking up the entire household if a storm occurred at night.  She would everyone get up and go down to the cellars, no matter how fast asleep they might have been.)

As the storm vented its full fury upon us, I stood at the doorway and try to make some videos with my iPad, but it was too dark and too violent and so we abandoned the idea and retreating inside, closed the doors, the windows, and pulled down the external blinds.  
There was one truly enormous crack of thunder right above the apartment that frightened the living day lights out of us but then, after a while it all seemed to die down and we went to sleep.  At 5:30 in the morning it started up again, even more violently than previous.  I slept like a babe thoughout this second round but AGA was awakened and stayed awake for quite a while.    A parent I was talking to later at school told me that at the height of the storm she witnessed a fire ball!

In the morning all was calm once again.  Birds were singing and all was peaceful.  I looked out of the sitting room windows but could see no damage, and as we began our walk to school I said to AGA that it appeared to have been a lot of bluster but not much else.
But as we walked through the village we realized that it had been a lot more than mere bluster...

Here is the Linden Avenue that leads out of Kaiserswerth, last weekend:

And here it is yesterday, after the storm:


I do not know why some trees were spared while others fell.


Our end of the village was blocked by falling trees


...while the other end was flooded because the drains had backed up under the huge volume of water.  The roads were bumper to bumper with traffic as cars navigated fallen trees on the main roads in order to get to work.
For our part, we walk to school and so we had to navigate our way around (or over) various fallen trees on the way…

The massive trunks had to be climbed over and I soon realised that I am not as nimble as I was when in my twenties…

We passed parents walking their children in the opposite direction, to get to the local village kindergarten:

No cars could get through.




No one was going to be able to move their cars until the trees were cleared.  I think that a lot of branches came down because they were laden with flowers.


Imagine the force that broke and twisted this tree:



The branch of this tree (together with the top part) was snapped off and blown into the nearby allotments.  It crushed the little allotment houses and took a day to saw up and clear away.

These few photographs show the damage in our small village.  It was duplicated all over the city and the general area on a much grander scale.  On the weekend I am going to walk by the river to see what has happened as I am  told that most of the trees lining the Rhine have been blown down. 

Trees had fallen on the tram lines, upon countless cars, on houses.  Lightning strikes caused fires despite the driving rain.  Sadly six people were killed - cyclists and gardeners caught unaware - but considering how swiftly the storm blew up, and its ferocity, it is surprising there were not more.

We are going to have a lot of disruptions as gangs slowly clear the debris.  

On a lighter note, a student told AGA that their trampoline was blown clear away and they have no idea where it went.  I was telling a colleague who told me that she counted four floating in the Rhine - carried there by the force of the storm.  Others were blown in to fields. Our lily lost one petal and  another one bravely opened, as if to defy the elements!

There were many other areas in Germany that were hit harder than we were and the storm seemed to make the heat and humidity even worse.  As I write this we are experiencing a little relief although it is still 22c at 8:12 in the evening.

. . . and because we live in the 21st Century where iPods and iPads and mobile phones are our means of instant communication, everyone - young and old - have been out and about taking photos and movies and whatnot.  And so I joined them to provide you with a small window on what we have experienced here in the last forty-eight hours.  

If you are interested you can read more about the storm here.

32 comments:

  1. Hello Kirk, I am glad that you and AGA came safely through that storm, and hope that things get back to normal soon. All those photos of fallen trees were quite dramatic.

    Oddly, although we do get the occasional typhoon, Taiwan generally does not have bad thunderstorms. Lately it had been raining every day for about a month, so perhaps it is a fair exchange to get a big storm over with, and then have some pleasant weather to enjoy.
    --Jim

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    1. Dear Jim,
      I have to say it was a somewhat hair-raising experience!
      There is something to be said for getting all over and done with although we are now seemingly back to high humidity again. Luckily for AGA and I, we are off to Melbourne for a few weeks holiday where it is rainy and cool. Hopefully, when we return the humidity will be over but knowing our luck in such matters it will probably have increased!
      I wish you colourful umbrellas to counteract drab rainy skies.
      Kirk

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  2. Oh dear Kirk, first of all, I am so pleased to see you post again, but what you are reporting here is so heart-breaking. Where we live here in the upper midwest of the USA, we get these kind of storms in the spring. We had one here in our own neighborhood that looked just like these photos you are sharing. To see the trees uprooted as such is frightening, and it looks as if a giant just stomped in and flattened the trees. What happens is that the ground gets so soaked with water that the trees just topple over.

    It is also frightening to read about the record heat reported in this part of Germany. We had the worse winter ever recorded here, and our spring so far is pleasant, and I wonder about our summer. Be safe, and all we can do is try our best to conserve what we have as the world's temperature is obviously going up. Be well, Anita

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    1. Thank you Anita,
      Our storm had wind gusts of up to 150km per hour which just tore trees out of the ground or broke them off at ground level.
      Many years ago I saw a television programme in which they predicted that storms would get worse and worse as the years passed and it certainly seems to be going that way. Luckily I have in my possession a double ribbed umbrella which I hope will bear up under further outbursts!
      Bye for now
      Kirk

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  3. It is heartbreaking to see those might trees destroyed. They all appear to be healthy too - the storm must have been ferocious.
    My son rang us to say they had a terrible storm in Paris, it must have been the same one. They had hail stones the size of cricket balls not golf balls which have totally dimpled the top of his car, fortunately his other car was in the garage. Their basement was flooded and some of his precious books were ruined which has really upset him. We just got the tail end of it with heavy rain for an hour.

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    1. Dear Rosemary,
      AGA said the same thing this morning as we walked to school and saw the fallen trees being sawn up and taken away. Apparently countless numbers of trees were felled all over Germany in the wake of this storm.
      Apparently we also had massive hail storms but luckily they did not strike Kaiserswerth - or at least not our village. I remember the great storm in 1987. What a terrifying experience that one was too.
      I feel your son's pain over the loss of books. Those are the things that are very difficult to replace, if they can be replaced at all!

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  4. I missed the storm entirely as I was in a restaurant. Arrived half an hour or so before it started and it was all over by the time we came out. Strange feeling. If I've done this right, this link, https://www.flickr.com/photos/mistymoon/sets/72157644703249668/ should take you to a flickr album of some photos from the day after. Kaiserswertherstr. at first and then Rheinpark. Not great photos but it'll give you an idea. Somehow the ones of Oberkassel don't mirror the feeling you get when looking across the river. It's like someone took a giant knife and sliced the tops of all the trees off or something.

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    1. Thank you for sharing those photographs, Moonwaves. It did indeed look like someone had used a knife to slash the trees. I hear that many trees along the Rhine were felled as well. We are going to walk down and see for ourselves tomorrow. I'm glad that you too were safe but I felt terrible for those poor people who were killed in the garden shed.
      Bye for now,
      Kirk

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  5. Hello Kirk.
    It's a changing world in which we're living. A world whose changes we're witnesses, if not participants, of.
    I'm glad that you and yours have shouldered the storm. Last year I experienced something similar, a large tree collapsing onto my roof, one of its branches protruding above my head as I ate my dinner, Zara running into corners. A bit nervy.
    I guess it keeps life interesting, but like many others, I'm sure, I wouldn't mind a little less drama if only there'd be a bit more reliability.
    Here, autumn and what looks like winter are warmer than usual, but we've had good rain, so everything's green.
    For now. I guess we can never assume life will be as we want it. And perhaps that will keep us from being vapid.
    Cheers, my friend, Faisal.

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    1. Dear Faisal,
      When we first moved to Australia we had a huge old tree in our garden that we named 'Old William'. One day a branch fell from the tree and missed our house by inches. For safety's sake my environmentally active father reluctantly agreed to have the tree taken down.
      Apparntly these are the sorts of trees known as 'widow makers' and AGA told me that one of his relatives was killed by a widow maker as well.
      As you rightly say, these things provided just a little too much excitement for my jangling nerves!
      My Mother informed me that the weather is fairly mild at present but that is okay by me as we will be there in a week or so for a pre-moving visit.
      Bye for now and I hope the book shop world is treating you kindly!
      Kirk

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  6. Oh my gosh that's some serious destruction! So glad that you are safe! Kirk did I tell you that I was in Germany in April and that I will be living there this autumn?? In Bavaria!! I can't wait!

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    1. Dear Keith,
      Hopefully we will not have another storm like it for a long long time.
      You are moving to Bavaria? How exciting! For how long? Is it a work assignment? Bavaria is such a beautiful part of the world - you will love living there.
      Kirk

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  7. Dear Kirk

    Thank God both of you are safe. How frightening it must have been. I have great respect for storms and take shelter immediately. Sometimes it is the aftershock which is even more scary. One always feels saddened to see large trees uprooted. Again I am happy you are both safe and all in your community

    Helenxx

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    1. Dear Helen,
      Thank you for your kind words. I agree with yo. To see a tree lying uprooted is a cause of sadness - I do not like it at all. Thankfully no trees on our little avenue were blown down but I thin that was because they were out of the line of fire so to speak, and protected by the houses and their close proximity to each other.
      I also feel sorry for the birds and always hope they are safely hidden from the storm.
      Bye for now,
      Kirk

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  8. Truly frightening. And six deaths is six too many. We've also had the experience of a glorious morning after a storm and heading out surprised by how little damage there is... only to go another few feet and discover the devastation. Thanks for the link. So glad you were safely inside.

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    1. Thank you Mitchell,
      Things are slowly getting back to normal, The tram lines were finally restored yesterday which has made everyone happy as that is most people's way of commuting. We look out of the window today and it is hard to think that anything ever happened!

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  9. Dear Kirk,

    It's amazing how much damage happened in such a short time, and I'm glad that you and AGA were at least spared. Here in Florida we get that type of quick damage from water spouts that come off Tampa Bay and hit land as small tornadoes. It all happens very fast and it is usually trailer parks that sustain the most damage.

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    1. Dear Mark,
      Very true. Those short sharp storms are often the worst. This link shows you what it was like closer in to the city. 17,000 trees were felled in this area alone and the road you see is the one we often ride our bikes on to get into the heart of the city:

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNHzi1V8pVI

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    2. That's quite a sobering video, with cars picked off like eeny-meeny-miney-mo. I'm amazed that such huge trees seemingly have such a shallow root system.

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    3. Isn't it. I think the roots are shallow because there we are only slightly above sea level here and the water table is relatively close to the surface. Mind you the winds were very strong. Interestingly the trees within the village of Kaiserswerth survived unscathed - protected by the houses in the town square.

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  10. What terrible damage, Kirk. So glad you and your partner are safe. We get storms here in NJ which occasionally cause the same kind of damage and I know how frightening it can be. Here we have the added problem of downed power lines which are deadly. (But you must have the same problem there?) My son-in-law recently had the tree people in to chop down several trees around his house as a precautionary measure. Around the corner from me, a tree came down across someone's front porch this past winter. Nature on the rampage.

    By the way, I love your balcony. What a wonderful place to eat your dinners during the calm weather.

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    1. Dear Yvette,
      We don't have the downed power line problem because most of them are underground.
      I'm glad that you like our balcony. We tried to make it our little garden. It is nice to sit our there in the summer and listen to the birds while eating.

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  11. Sorry to hear of the destruction, but glad that you are both unscathed.
    I love being locked inside in the warm listening to electrical storms and winds howling, but obviously not at the expense of damage outside. I remember when a cyclone descended across Willowbrook and undid much of our planting, snapping branches off trees. We were 'gutted'. Hope they replant the lost Lindens.

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    1. Dear David,
      I think that they will replace those trees. The Lindens are a very beautiful tree and do much to enhance the 'prettiness' of the village. I don't know about you but AGA and I hate seeing trees fallen. There is something very sad about such events so I feel your pain! Mind you there are so many fallen trees that the army is helping to clear them at present.

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  12. When you wrote elements at war, I was thinking of WW1. 2014 is the 100th anniversary of WW1 and the subject fills history blogs, journals, magazines and lectures, at least in Britain and the old Empire. What is being memorialised in Germany? Is your location on the border of Germany and France a strange place to be during this year of memorials?

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    1. Dear Hels,
      All things war play a very low profile here in Germany (or at least in this part of Germany). Angela Merkel did attend the D-Day ceremonies though. To be honest with you, and I may be wrong, but I think the events of WWII totally overshadow those of WWI here, twinned as they were with a dictatorship and many subsequent social wrongs. Kaiserswerth has its WWI and WWII memorials and cemeteries but I don't see any celebrations to mark the end of WWI. I think it is different when your country was the one that lost. I find I could write a lot more on this topic!
      Bye for now
      Kirk

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  13. Dear Kirk, the following line caught my attention as I read your posting: "Full bellied with mischief." And I thought to myself that the storm sounds like a blustering, pompous, fat-bellied bully. And then I read on and discovered just what you meant. So much mischief and so much of it tragic for those of you who live in the path of the storm.

    Your photographs so clearly show the devastation. Thanks so much for the link to the BBC article as it explained that three people in a garden shed were killed and 3 more injured, 2 seriously. I'm hoping that those three are recovering.

    That photo of the storm clouds is the most ominous storm photo I've ever seen. The thought of the trampolines floating in the Rhine is amusing, but nothing else seems so. I wonder how many houses were demolished or damaged. Here in the Midwest we have many tornadoes and sometimes they can almost wipe out a small town or a section of a larger town. Like the one in Joplin, Missouri, two years ago.

    I appreciate your posting about this storm because I was unaware that it had happened. I hope the children aren't having nightmares. Peace.

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    1. Dear Dee,
      I have to say that that was the worst storm I have experienced in my 10 years in Germany. Luckily no houses were destroyed (that I know of) but many cars were damaged and houses were certainly damaged in varying degrees. Now I am visiting Melbourne and had a similar storm just the other day although not of the same intensity though but a lot of trees came down. I seem to be carrying stormy weather with us!

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  14. Hi Kirk, I love the photos of your countryside but the storm damage was hard to take. You did an excellent job of documenting the scene. The storm clouds photo is awesome. Nice work! John

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    1. Thank you John. I have grown to like taking photographs from 'doing' my blog and getting ideas from other blogs, like yours!
      Kirk

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  15. Jeepers creepers Kirk. Thankfully you were safely tucked up at home. Mother nature is indeed a power to be reckoned with.
    Your dinner al fresco looks such a civilised affair, surrounded by beautiful Asiatic lilies and the scent of citrus blossom.
    Hope this weekend brings sunny skies your way.
    Paul :)

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  16. We've been having a great deal more of this kind of extreme weather here in the U.S., combined with prolonged drought on the west (Pacific) coast and resultant wildfires.

    Here in New Hampshire, the dominant tree is the white pine. They grow very tall and straight (the British Navy took thousands of them during the Colonial period for masts and yard arms). White pines have a very flat and shallow root system and they go down readily in wind or ice storms, leaving our towns and roads very like yours.

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