Around 150 flights had to be canceled and more than two dozen diverted: The freezing rain on Wednesday temporarily brought air traffic at Munich Airport to a standstill. Train drivers also had to wait due to the weather, and there were several accidents on the roads.
Munich (dpa/lby) – It was initially relatively quiet on the streets, but at Munich Airport the icy winter weather messed up the flight plan quite a bit: Due to the risk of ice from freezing rain, no planes were temporarily able to take off and land on Wednesday. Around 150 flights were initially canceled and 26 diverted, a spokesman for the airport told the German Press Agency. “There can be even more.” When operations will return to normal depends on the weather.
The entire crew of the airport was on duty with 150 clearing vehicles and 160 employees. “There are no compromises when it comes to safety,” the spokesman said. “If it keeps raining on it, we can’t open the track.” Flights were diverted to Stuttgart and Vienna, among other places. In the afternoon, the airport operator announced that at least some landings were possible again. Initially, only the northern runway was released again, then only the southern one, said the airport spokesman. Accordingly, planes could not take off from the airport in the late afternoon. Because of the freezing rain, the planes could not be de-iced.
The Deutsche Bahn had to temporarily suspend regional traffic between Munich and Buchloe due to the weather. Several regional trains operated by the Go-Ahead railway company were stranded on Wednesday afternoon due to black ice, some even on the open route. “We can therefore currently only maintain operations on the Memmingen – Lindau route and had to temporarily suspend all other routes,” said a statement from Go-Ahead.
The zoo in Augsburg also closed due to the danger of ice and ice, and the city of Munich closed its cemeteries. “Mourning ceremonies and burials are carried out,” emphasized a city spokesman. Mourners would be picked up by cemetery staff at the respective main entrance, escorted to the mourning hall and burial place, and brought back to the exit. The Munich fire brigade wrote on Twitter: “Please avoid unnecessary trips and walks.”
Upper Bavaria and Swabia were particularly affected by the icy winter weather. In Lower Bavaria, the police reported 20 accidents with 5 injuries in the afternoon. There were also traffic delays due to vehicles stuck in the snow and standing across. In the course of the evening, further impairments are to be expected, it was said in the afternoon.
The police also recorded several accidents due to slippery roads on Autobahn 9 in northern Upper Bavaria. But it was mostly body damage, said a spokesman in the afternoon. Nobody was seriously injured. “It’s been very quiet on the streets, the whole day, we’ve hardly had any accidents so far,” said a spokesman for the police headquarters in Upper Bavaria South in the afternoon. The road conditions were “better than expected” and the drivers only took the warnings.
Meanwhile, the German Weather Service warned of black ice in the coming days. Icy winter weather and slippery roads are to be expected, especially in the Augsburg area and near the Alps.
