Sandstorm In Germany

[Coast]

Terrible disaster:

A freak sandstorm that swept across a motorway in northern Germany caused a multiple pile-up, leaving eight people dead and dozens injured.

Sand and dirt were blown on to the four-lane A19 near Rostock, close to the Baltic Sea in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania state, on Friday. The pile-up involved 80 cars and three lorries, with 20 vehicles set ablaze. A combination of recent dry weather, ploughing of fields and high winds was blamed for the accident. At least 41 people were hurt. Many suffered serious injuries and there are fears the death toll could rise.

One motorist, named only as Steffen, told reporters that "all of a sudden, there was a black wall of sand and then I couldn't see anything any more and I was pushed into another car". He added: "I have never seen anything like it before and it's difficult to describe. I think I will only later realise what happened. I think this is my second birthday today." All of the fatalities appear to have occurred on the northbound carriageway. One of the lorries involved there was carrying inflammable material and sparked several fires. About 30 vehicles crashed on the southbound carriageway. The road was closed in both directions as rescue work continued

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13023407

Along with his sympathy for those affected, German Transport Minister Peter Ramsauer expressed his shock at the incident. "Such extreme forces of nature show that there are limits even to the greatest efforts to ensure safety on our roads," said Ramsauer. Police, emergency teams and firefighters rushed to the scene, but rescue helicopters were unable to land due to the poor visibility. High winds had been blowing since the early morning, which stirred up dirt from freshly planted fields in the predominantly rural area.

The German Weather Service said hurricane-like winds are nothing out of the ordinary in the region and that dust could easily be whipped up into the air if storms travelled inland across dry, bare fields. "Storms like this are nothing unusual in the north of Germany," said weather service spokesman Gerhard Lux. "It is more the case, here, that a series of unfortunate circumstances led to the pile-up."

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,14976864,00.html

[Beverley Lass]

Sand Storm

That's a horrible accident, poor souls.

I see from this article linked above, they talk of sand

from the Sahara. This is expected to come down in

Britain Sunday on too.

I've seen this a few times.

BL.

[Rustynailer]

That looks nasty.

As there is no speed limit on the Autobahn, some of those vehicles were doing over 100mph. The last time I was there I was generally the slowest road user at 80mph on the inside lane.

Sand storms in Germany are normal apparently, local agriculture.

The sand that is near or over us at the moment is not the same sand, its from North Africa. It will not even be visible to the eye. Unless some gets in the eye... This is quite normal too.

Russ

[Coast]

Not sure if this was part of the sand coming in to us at the moment or not. I've not seen it this thick:

The glorious warm weather could be coming to an abrupt end – and be replaced by a sand storm from Africa. A storm in the Sahara Desert earlier this week has sent a huge sand cloud into the atmosphere. Eight people were killed and at least 41 injured in Germany after the sand storm caused a massive pile-up on the motorway. Experts say the storm is now heading towards the UK and could cause sand-filled showers to fall in the next day or so.

Helen Chivers, Met Office forecaster, told the Daily Mirror: 'There was quite a large sandstorm in Morocco, which meant a large amount of sand in the atmosphere. 'The cloud hit southwest England on Friday. There's a chance of showers in some parts on Sunday, so it may come down then.'

http://travel.aol.co.uk/2011/04/09/sand-storm-heading-to-the-uk/

[4wd]

The accident was caused by reduced visibility as fine dust from the adjacent farmland was blown into clouds reaching a few metres into the air.

The same effect is sometimes seen in parts of the UK, mainly in spring when there is more bare ground between the newly emerged or newly sown crops.

Only certain soil types are usually prone to doing it inparticular peaty soils on areas which were once shallow lakes or marsh are easier to lift in high winds when dry.

The volume of material moved is not usually especially large in any one event, as the airborne particles are very small.

The real problem is drivers going too fast - it would have been similar to driving in fog and could be negotiated perfectly safely at sensible speeds.

There have been various experiments to minimise the problem.

Around York, particular problem areas have a plastic mesh laid on the surface alongside roads.

This is expensive and time consuming.

Another idea is to spray on a glue like binder which breaks down naturally after a few weeks.

That's probably a better option - but only the areas which have 'blows' most years are likely to have suitable equipment to apply this sort of thing.

Lines of trees as windbreaks can help but won't stop the problem when it's very windy.