When Xaver triggered storm surges and a media hurricane

Rarely has a weather phenomenon attracted as much attention as "Xaver":At the beginning of December 2013, the storm front hit the north. For three days - from December 5th to 7th - strong hurricanes and storm surges kept people in suspense.

But despite the collapse of dunes on the coasts, flooding and the second highest water level ever measured in Hamburg, the damage caused by "Xaver" was less than initially feared.

"Xaver" - a media storm?

"Xaver" received a lot of attention in the media long before it arrived in northern Germany - unlike hurricane "Christian", about which there were hardly any warnings at the end of October 2013, but which had caused millions of euros in damage all over the north and the police took care of it got the label "extreme storm". In the case of "Xaver" there were clear warnings in advance, but in the end the storm was less violent than "Christian". In retrospect, the reporting was also criticized:Was a normal storm inflated to the hurricane of the century? Much ado about nothing? Meteorologists reassured:"No, it wasn't scaremongering. Up to the north of the Mittelland Canal it was almost a direct hit in the warning, we have to be proud of it," said Wolfgang Seifert from the German Weather Service.

Lower Saxony:coast breaks and dance performance

In Lower Saxony, a storm tide up to 2.80 meters high caused significant dune collapses - especially on the islands of Juist, Norderney, Spiekeroog and Wangerooge. The storm on Spiekeroog and on the Brocken reached top speeds of around 150 kilometers per hour. The special thing about "Xaver" was the chain of four consecutive storm surges, said Herma Heyken from the State Office for Coastal Protection. "We had a storm surge for practically two days, the water never ran out."

"Xaver" raged in the Harz with heavy snowstorms. Trucks couldn't get any further, in Torfhaus (district of Goslar) the power went out for hours.

Second highest storm surge in the history of Hamburg

There were also three storm surges in direct succession in Hamburg. One of them was the second highest storm surge in the city's history. Only in 1976 was the flood even stronger. The crest was at 6.15 a.m. on St. Nicholas Day at 6.09 meters above sea level, almost four meters above the mean high water level. For comparison:During the storm surge of 1962, the level "only" rose to 5.70 meters above sea level, which had devastating effects because the dykes were too low. After the natural disaster, the protective measures had been expanded. However:The fish market, the warehouse district and parts of the Hafencity as well as the areas on the Falkensteiner Ufer and on the Strandweg in Blankenese were in 2013 meters under water. There were no injuries or major damage.

Schleswig-Holstein:the coast is crumbling, the dikes hold

According to the director of the state agency for coastal protection, Johannes Oelerich, Schleswig-Holstein also got off relatively "lightly". "Xaver" gave people many restless hours, especially on the coasts of Dithmarschen and North Friesland, but the water levels in the North Sea were not as high as feared. The dykes held up everywhere, including on Sylt. And that despite the fact that waves up to six meters high lashed the west coast of the island. Foredunes broke off on almost 60 percent of the cliffs, and a total of 21 kilometers of coastline were damaged. The wall on the Wadden Sea side also threatened to break. A year later, Keitum was not only protected by the earth wall but by a "real" dyke. Residents and local associations paid for it out of their own pockets - because the State Office for Coastal Protection is only responsible for the sea side of the island.

VIDEO: Land under on Hallig Hooge (59 min)

Storm surge also on the Baltic Sea

The storm reached Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania as the last northern German state. The storm surge was less than feared with values ​​around one meter above the mean water level in Wismar and Warnemünde and 85 centimeters in Sassnitz and Greifswald. According to the Meteomedia weather service, "Xaver" reached a top speed of 167 kilometers per hour on the island of Hiddensee. Wind speeds of 141 km/h were measured in Heiligendamm and 137 km/h in Warnemünde. Shipping was also affected by the extreme weather conditions. A ferry from Trelleborg in Sweden was unable to call at the port of Rostock for several hours because a fairway buoy was floating in the middle of the approach. The state forests found considerable damage:around 60,000 cubic meters of wood worth more than three million euros fell to the ground, especially in coastal forests.

In addition to the very serious situation, there were also fun events like this:while NDR reporter Ute Lawrentz was reporting live from Norddeich, two scantily clad 17-year-olds danced behind her back and performed her version of "Gangnam Style". The two speedsters became local celebrities in East Friesland.