The clean-up after storm Ylenia is still underway. But more stormy weather is forecast for Germany on late Friday afternoon into Saturday. 

Meteorologists at the German Weather Service (DWD) predict that the focus of the new storm will be the northern half of Germany. Parts of Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Bremen, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Brandenburg, Berlin, North Rhine-Westphalia, Hesse, Thuringia and Saxony will be most affected.

DWD issued a red storm alert for these areas lasting from Friday at 6pm to Saturday 4am. The most serious purple warning for ‘extreme storm weather’ was in place for North Sea coastal areas.

Gale-force winds between 120km/h and140 km/h – or even 160 km/h – are expected in the worst affected areas. 

READ ALSO: Passengers in northern Germany face travel chaos due to storms

Nach dem Orkan ist vor dem Orkan…. Wir haben die Vorabinformation für den morgigen Freitag bzw. die Nacht zum Samstag in den meisten Regionen in amtliche Warnungen überführt. Vor allem in der Nordhälfte gilt weiterhin gilt: OBACHT! ⚠️ https://t.co/YyavIu81Zw /V pic.twitter.com/7d0mSU8wnn

— DWD (@DWD_presse) February 17, 2022

Rescue teams urged people in Germany to prepare for the high winds.

“Everything on the terrace that is not nailed down is best brought in, put in the garage,” Christopher Rehnert, head of the Lüdenscheid fire brigade, told broadcaster ARD on Friday morning. He added that flower or plant boxes should be removed from balconies.

Between the North Sea and the High Rhine, the wind is expected to increase on Friday morning, and from the afternoon onwards the next heavy storm will begin – spreading from west to east.

On Friday night through to Saturday, the wind could get stronger at the North Sea and in some high-altitude areas.

Disruption expected

In some places, school lessons are likely to be affected again on Friday – as they were on Thursday – or cancelled altogether. The district of Goslar in Lower Saxony announced that pupils could not be transported anywhere. Therefore, classes in all general and vocational schools were cancelled. In Hamburg, parents can decide for themselves whether their child should stay at home, but they should inform the school.

Warnings of storm surge danger have again been issued for the German North Sea coast on Friday.

Since Wednesday evening, hurricane storm Ylenia has caused havoc across Germany, grounding flights and hitting the rail network. Emergency services have been overrun – the Berlin fire and rescue team alone was called out to around 1,300 incidents by Thursday evening.

There were also deaths and injuries. At least three drivers in Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt died in weather-related accidents in their cars – two were killed by falling trees, a third died when his trailer ran into the oncoming lane in the storm, causing an accident.

An incident on a Hamburg harbour ferry had a mild outcome for the people on board: on a stormy journey across the Elbe, a large wave smashed the front windows of the ship on Thursday morning. According to the police, three passengers were slightly injured.