A strong storm accompanied by thunder hit parts of Austria on Tuesday. The highest level of warning was declared in several federal states, while hail, heavy rain and gusty winds caused problems in Lower Austria.
Styria was the hardest hit, where meteorologists warned of extremely large hail, heavy rainfall and flooding. The red warning level was also in force in Salzburg, Carinthia, parts of Lower and Upper Austria and East Tyrol.
The storm previously hit Wöllersdorf, in the district of Wiener Neustadt-Land. Large amounts of hail completely covered the roads in just a few minutes. “It looked like the middle of winter,” said a reader of the paper Heute. One shop in the town was also badly damaged, where the rain penetrated through the roof and flooded the area.
Da waren heute ein paar starke Gewitter dabei:
– Weiße Landschaft durch Hagel in Wöllersdorf/NÖ
– 98 km/h Sturmböen in Bischofshofen/S und Wiener Neustadt/NÖ
– Überflutete A2 im Raum Leobersdorf/NÖ
🎥 Rainer Spenger pic.twitter.com/5vjjB1BEv7— Manuel Oberhuber (@manu_oberhuber) July 14, 2026
Due to torrential rain, hail and strong gusts of wind, traffic was completely stopped on the A2 South motorway in the area of Kottingbrunn. The deputy mayor of Wiener Neustadt, Rainer Spenger, was then traveling with his wife from Vienna to Wiener Neustadt.
“We entered an area of heavy rain and then at Kottingbrunn on the A2 motorway we were suddenly hit by huge amounts of water, hail and gale-force winds. Traffic came to a complete standstill in places. It was terrible,” Spenger told Heute. Despite the difficult conditions, they eventually arrived in Wiener Neustadt, a district where flooded roads and basements and fallen trees triggered a major intervention by firefighters.
The northern part of the district suffered the most, which was hit by heavy rainfall. There were 15 fire departments on the ground, which had to intervene in approximately 25 locations. In the area of Hohe Wanda, firefighters also had an intervention due to a landslide.
Emergency services are still on the ground in order to remove the consequences of the storm as soon as possible, he reports Morning.
