According to local police, a tornado passed over Kiel around 6 p.m. on Wednesday. Several rowers were just busy with their boats on the quay near the Oceanography Institute when the tornado hit them and blew them into the Baltic Sea. According to the fire department, all were rescued. Some of them were hit in the head by flying objects. According to eyewitnesses, the first rescuers jumped into the water to pull people to shore. According to the fire department, four people were seriously injured and several others were moderately to lightly injured. They were transported to area hospitals.
Storm destroys roofs of homes
Earlier, the tornado partially destroyed roofs in Kiel-Meimersdorf. In the Gaarden district, several roof tiles were torn off from houses. According to the police, it is not yet clear whether it was one or two tornadoes. The fire department and emergency services took part in the action.
Eyewitness: “The tornado was moving very fast”
An eyewitness told NDR Schleswig-Holstein that she managed to get out to a safe distance at the last minute. Moments later, a birch tree fell over near the seal pool. The tornado was moving very quickly across the Kiel Fjord toward land, but the boardwalk was relatively empty at the time of the incident because it had rained earlier. Barbara Wittich’s house in Kiel-Meimersdorf had its roof ripped off, the woman reports: “It was a huge shock. It was shaking upstairs. Then I screamed. I couldn’t breathe anymore. Then my husband came upstairs and asked what was happening.”
Meteorologist: “It is impossible to predict something like this”
Earlier, the German meteorological service had forecast rain and heavy rain. That tornadoes might form was not foreseeable. “Something like this is absolutely impossible to predict,” said Sebastian Wache, a meteorologist at WetterWelt in Kiel. The tornado formed on the outskirts of Kiel in the Meimersdorf district.
Was it a tornado?
“Based on the photos, we assume it was a tornado,” meteorologist Michael Bauditz of the German Meteorological Service (DWD) told the German Press Agency. Tornadoes are cyclones. They form with large temperature differences and often occur in Central Europe together with thunderstorms.
source: www.ndr.de