Storms Batter Baden-Württemberg: Flooded Homes, Fallen Trees, and Lightning Strikes Reported

Severe weather, including thunderstorms, hail, and heavy rain, has left a trail of damage across Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The German Weather Service (DWD) forecasts continued severe weather through Thursday morning, with expectations of intense rainfall, strong winds up to 85 km/h, and small hail in areas including the Hochrhein, Lake Constance, and the Southern Black Forest. The fire department responded to numerous calls in the Lake Constance region, primarily due to fallen trees blocking roads. In Friedrichshafen, five such incidents occurred, with two in Wangen im Allgäu and three in Kressbronn am Bodensee, where a tree fell onto a mobile home at a campsite. Heavy rain on the A81 highway led to a serious accident when a 44-year-old driver's car hydroplaned, flipping multiple times before coming to rest off the road. Miraculously, she escaped unharmed but was taken to the hospital for examination. Elsewhere, a lightning strike caused a woman in Aitrach to suffer an electric shock while holding her charging mobile phone. The strike also damaged power boxes, with reports of flames erupting from outlets. In Lichtenstein, a lightning strike ignited a fire in the roof structure of an uninhabited building, which firefighters quickly extinguished. In Reutlingen, the fire department conducted 17 operations mainly involving flooded basements and overwhelmed drainage systems.