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Austria battles significant flooding after record rainstorms

Heavy rains lashed Alpine areas of Austria and left parts of Vienna under water at the weekend, triggering extreme damage in parts of the country and interfering with road and rail transport, authorities and local media said.

Torrents of muddy water swept cars and trucks through the ski resort of St. Anton in western Austria, video footage posted on social networks showed. On the other hand record rains hit parts of Vienna in the east of the country, state broadcaster ORF said.

A lady was dragged under a bus by the force of flooding in the Doebling area in the north of the city on Saturday, ORF stated. She was required to medical facility in a crucial condition, it added.

Fire services in the capital were called out more than 450 times on Saturday as the rainstorms caused traffic turmoil and interfered with rail transportation, according to ORF.

Heavy storms have done fantastic damage in lots of parts of Austria, Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer stated on X, thanking officials who were working to clear up the damage.

In Vienna's Doebling district, officials registered 110 litres of rain per square metre, which ORF Vienna meteorologist Kevin Hebenstreit said was a record for August rains in the city.

A big proportion of Vienna's typical summertime rainfall struck on Saturday in simply one hour, according to weather information company UBIMET.

Usually in August it rains a total of 68 litres per square metre, with the all-time record being 139 litres on May 15, 1885, according to ORF.

(source: Reuters)