Parts of Switzerland have been rocked by severe thunder and hail storms overnight, causing significant local flooding. Canton Zurich, Thurgau and both Appenzells were the most affected, with the poor weather expected to continue until next week.
Heavy thunderstorms descended on Switzerland on Thursday night, bringing heavy rain and bouts of hail to the alpine nation. It comes after Swiss cantons endured a week of smaller thunderstorms and heavy rain, meaning that the ground was already saturated when the larger storm arrived.
The Tösstal, near the city of Winterthur, Canton Zurich, was the hardest hit. The emergency services confirmed that the fire brigade in the town of Turbenthal had to be called out 100 times in the last night alone. "In a single part of the village, about half a square kilometre in size, where it rained particularly heavily from around 6.15 pm, we had around 30 operations," said Reto Gubler, head of training for the Turbenthal-Wila-Wildberg fire brigade.
Most of the fire brigade's operations were flooded basements and garages. "The hail clogged the drains, so the large amounts of water that had fallen in a short time could penetrate the buildings," Gubler explained. Water and debris were also pictured flowing in the streets.
Overnight, 540 lightning strikes were recorded in Canton Thurgau, accompanied by up to 59 millimetres of rain in the course of one night. Despite the severe storm, as of yet, no injuries have been reported.
Luckily, the residents of Switzerland will not have long to wait before better weather arrives. After a wet, cloudy and windy weekend, the start of next week is set to return conditions back to normal, with Monday through Friday seeing patchy clouds and sunshine. The area around Zurich is set to experience temperatures as high as 26 degrees Celsius in the next week.