The recent heavy storms and massive rainfall have caused mudslides, flooding and chaos in Carinthia, especially in the districts of Villach and Villach-Land. The Austrian Armed Forces were therefore called in to assist on June 29. On July 2, another assistance mission was added for firefighting in Burgenland. A reed fire broke out in the Breitenbrunn area, which was brought under control in the late afternoon.
“The rapid deployment of our soldiers shows that the Austrian population can always rely on the Austrian Armed Forces. They show time and again what and how much they can do. Our top priority is to provide rapid assistance on the ground, which our soldiers have demonstrated both in Carinthia and in Burgenland. In Carinthia, it is now a matter of returning to normality as quickly as possible – even if this will take many more weeks – and we will continue to stand by the province of Carinthia together with the civilian emergency services. I would like to thank all the emergency organizations and especially the members of the Austrian Armed Forces, who are always ready to help quickly and provide support where help is urgently needed,” said Defence Minister Klaudia Tanner.
More than 170 soldiers from Villach Engineer Battalion 1 and the air force are supporting the clean-up work in the first few days with helicopters and heavy engineering equipment such as excavators, wheel dumpers and trucks. Their task is to make the main roads in the Gegendtal valley, especially to Afritz am See and Arriach, passable again so that the equipment and personnel of the emergency organization can continue their work. Blockages caused by fallen trees and mudslides also had to be removed with chainsaws and the masses of rubble, debris and mud had to be cleared. A Black Hawk was transferred from Carinthia to Burgenland to assist in fighting a reed fire in Breitenbrunn in the early afternoon. This assistance mission was successfully completed in the late afternoon and the Black Hawk flew back to Langenlebarn. Further missions by an Agusta Bell 212 and an Alouette III for reconnaissance, evacuation and supply flights were planned for the following day. The countless damaged areas had to be explored and assessed in order to be able to deploy the emergency services quickly and effectively. People cut off from the environment were supplied with relief supplies or had to be partially evacuated. A Black Hawk helicopter assisted the KNG-Kärnten Netz GmbH technicians in replacing the electricity pylons to restore the power supply.
