More than thirty people were injured, “including ten seriously” in Paderborn, a town in western Germany that was crossed by a “tornado”, a police spokesperson told AFP on Friday evening. The tornado also caused extensive property damage.
This medium-sized city in North Rhine-Westphalia is being hit hard by the storm that is currently crossing Germany and which started after abnormally high temperatures for the season.
The town of Lippstadt, about thirty kilometers away, was also probably hit by a tornado, according to a spokesperson for the fire department, without any injuries being to be deplored at this stage.
The bad weather caused a lot of damage in this region of western Germany, the police reporting countless torn roofs and uprooted trees. Photos posted on social media also showed overturned cars. Rail traffic was badly disrupted and the police called on residents to stay at home. The German meteorological services have issued a storm warning for Friday, with gusts of wind that could reach up to 130 km / h in places. The bad weather affected the west of the country first and is expected to spread eastwards later in the evening.