Severe storm ‘Manja’ has brought strong winds, heavy rain, and disruptions across Germany, prompting official warnings and emergency responses in multiple regions.

Storm front ‘Manja’ is currently sweeping across Germany, bringing severe weather conditions including strong winds and heavy rainfall. Official warnings for storm gusts and severe storm gusts were issued for large areas in the north, central, west, and southwest regions of the country on Sunday morning. The German Weather Service (DWD) reported wind speeds of up to 90 kilometers per hour at elevations above 600 meters, with exposed areas experiencing gusts of up to 100 kilometers per hour. In lower-lying areas, wind speeds of up to 70 kilometers per hour were recorded. The storm has led to numerous emergency responses by fire departments across the affected regions.

The northern parts of Germany, particularly the coastal areas of Schleswig-Holstein and Lower Saxony, are experiencing the brunt of the storm. The DWD has warned of hurricane-like gusts and occasional hurricane-force winds along the North Sea coast. Ferry services to several East Frisian islands, including Helgoland, have been disrupted, with many connections canceled. The Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency has issued a storm surge warning for the North Sea coast, predicting water levels to rise significantly above average. In Hamburg, water levels at the St. Pauli gauge are expected to reach 2 meters above the mean high tide by Monday morning, meeting the criteria for a storm surge.

In southern Germany, Freiburg experienced a widespread power outage due to strong winds. A metal roof was blown into a substation in the Littenweiler district, causing a short circuit that affected thousands of households. While power was restored to most homes by Sunday morning, the University Hospital in Freiburg announced that it could only handle life-threatening emergencies due to the outage. In the Harz region, continuous rainfall and hurricane-force winds reaching speeds of up to 130 kilometers per hour around the Brocken led to 28 emergency responses, including incidents involving fallen trees and damaged property. Meanwhile, on the Fichtelberg in Saxony, temperatures around freezing caused precipitation to turn into snowfall, accompanied by severe storm gusts.