Pardubice tornado
© www.in-pocasi.cz Nikola Burkoňová Windstorm in Staré Čivice destroyed the roof of ten to fifteen houses.
Translation by SOTT.net

Pardubice - Tuesday's tornado not only struck Staré Čívice in Pardubice, but also other communities in the vicinity of Pardubice.

People reported damaged roofs in Staré Jesenčany, Mikulovice, and Blata a Hroubovice said the deputy of county firefighters.

Possibly multiple tornadoes rampaged through Pardubice, but meteorologists are still investigating whether in some cases these were so-called 'landspouts'.

The tornado caused most damage in an industrial zone in Staré Čívice, where it damaged the buildings of two businesses, leaving costs in damages running into tens of millions of crowns.

According to a Aktuálně.cz reporter who visited the location after nine o'clock in the morning, all damaged houses are already covered with tarps and repairs have started on some, either on people's own initiative or through hastily contracted firms. At the Jtekt production hall, assessment of the damage is still ongoing.

Firefighters also removed fallen trees

Housing repairs will cost hundreds of thousands of crowns and the reconstruction of buildings in the industrial zone will cost tens of millions of crowns. Two companies working in car production estimate that repairs will take a month or two. One company had to halt production in their damaged warehouse.

122 employees in the Staré Čívice industrial zone had to quickly flee from a building with dimensions of fifty by seventy meters. All managed to escape before the tornado hit and responding paramedics did not have to treat anyone. Structural engineers will assess whether the building will needs to be closed.

In Staré Čívice, the windstorm destroyed the roofs of ten to fifteen houses. In Staré Jesenčany, the roofs of six homes collapsed. The same happened to several houses in Hroubovice, Mikulovice and Blato.

"We are thinking about how we can help people out. We will at least provide waste containers. We will certainly repair damaged areas that belong to the municipality," said deputy mayor of VI. city district Miroslav Rubeš.

Firefighters also removed fallen trees in several places in the county - between Štěpánov and Luží, between Brdo and Hluboká, Bor u Skutče and Nové Hrady. Strong winds also damaged trees on the road from Horní Újezd towards Sebranice and severed overhead power lines.

Tornado in the Czech Republic is a rare phenomenon

Last year there were about 10 tornadoes documented in the Czech republic. Their strength on the Fujita scale (F0-F6) ranged from F0 (up to 117 km/h) to F2 (up to 250 km/h).

The strongest tornado in the region, according to chronicles, was recorded 30 July 1119 in Prague Vyšehrad, where the force reached F3-F4.

F3 tornadoes (up to 332 km/h) in recent years appeared on 9 June 2004 in Litovel and 31 May 2001 in Milošovice (in the Kutná Hora county). The occurrence of tornadoes is very difficult to predict. They form in the unstable air masses during a storm.