Hurricane-force storm Manja heads for Germany overnight; Hamburg braces for surge
Germany's weather service warns of gusts above 118 kph in the mountains as storm Manja arrives. Hamburg may see a storm surge, and fast ferries to Heligoland are halted.
Archive image · Photo: Minderbinder / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped and resized)
A hurricane-force low dubbed Manja is sweeping in from the North Atlantic overnight into Sunday, following storm Luise, which injured several people on Friday. The German Weather Service (DWD) expects gusts of at least 118 kph on high ground and a severe gale over the German Bight, with force-11 winds on Heligoland. Isolated thunderstorms near the coast could bring gusts of up to about 100 kph on Saturday evening.
The federal maritime agency expects significantly higher water levels from Sunday into Monday. A storm surge could flood the low-lying part of Hamburg's fish market. Fast ferries to Heligoland are cancelled for the weekend, and the Halligen islets will not be served on Sunday or Monday. Up to 70 liters of rain per square meter could fall in the high Black Forest.
"Apart from the southeast, Sunday will be a windy to stormy day," DWD meteorologist Thore Hansen told the dpa news agency. Cologne and Aachen urged residents to avoid forests and parks, and Erfurt closed its cemeteries. The storm coincides with the end of daylight saving time, when clocks go back from 3 a.m. to 2 a.m. Winds are expected to ease on Monday.