After the Austrian Armed Forces rescued two emergency personnel (a police officer and a member of the fire department) this morning with a Black Hawk helicopter rescued from the B19 in Markersdorf this morning using a winchthe helicopter crew is now also evacuating residents in the municipality from their houses trapped by the water.
As announced by the Austrian Armed Forces, due to the heavy rainfall in the past few days, all forces of the 3rd and 7th Jäger Brigade and the 4th Panzergrenadier Brigade stationed in Lower Austria as well as parts of the NBC Defense Center and the Military Command of Lower Austria have been alerted and are ready for deployment. In addition, two Black Hawk S-70 helicopters in Langenlebarn and two AB-212 helicopters in Linz are on alert. All requests from the districts are currently being collected, viewed and prioritized in the crisis situation center of the state of Lower Austria. A decision is then made as to where the Austrian Armed Forces will be deployed for assistance operations (-> current news about the assistance missions of the Austrian Armed Forces) will be deployed.
The soldiers are to be deployed primarily for urgently needed evacuations and fortifications to protect infrastructure in the public sector. Subsequently, they will also support the clean-up operations “to make the public infrastructure in Lower Austria available again as quickly as possible”, according to the statement. A platoon of Melk pioneers is also already in action, using boats to rescue people trapped in Haunoldstein. The pioneers who are currently helping in Melk are being relieved by an assistance platoon from Jäger Battalion 12.
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