Icy cold and extreme snowfall throw the north into chaos in the winter of 1978/79. The masses of snow had not yet melted away when, in February 1979, there was another heavy snowfall and a disaster alarm sounded in several parts of the country.
It's an onset of winter that those who experienced it will probably never forget. On the morning of December 28, 1978, the temperature was still about ten degrees above zero - typical Christmas thaw. Then the weather changes abruptly:icy air masses of up to minus 47 degrees and warm, humid Atlantic air pile up over northern Germany. From the afternoon temperatures drop by up to 30 degrees Celsius. It begins to snow heavily, in many places a heavy storm is raging at the same time.
Storm and snowfall for days at the turn of the year 78/79
At the turn of the year 1978/79, northern Germany was covered in snow. Drifts sometimes tower it several meters high. Countless roads are no longer passable. In many places there is no electricity because the pylons collapse under the weight of the snow. In addition to the snow and ice storm, there is severe flooding on the Baltic Sea coast. It floods entire districts in Flensburg, Schleswig and Lübeck, and the port facilities in Sassnitz on the island of Rügen are damaged.
Bundeswehr and NVA in continuous action during a snow disaster
The disaster alarm is declared in numerous districts, in Schleswig-Holstein 80 villages are cut off from the outside world. Helicopters take care of the trapped people from the air, around 30,000 helpers from the German Red Cross, the German Armed Forces, the Technical Relief Agency, the fire brigade and other aid organizations are on duty. The National People's Army is on site in what is now Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in the north of the GDR. With the help of tanks, among other things, they are trying to make the streets accessible again. Here, too, helicopters take over the supply of the population from the air.
Rügen cut off from the outside world
In the north of the GDR, NVA tanks are deployed to clear roads and railway tracks of snow.On the Baltic Sea island of Rügen alone, 40 towns were cut off from the outside world for days. Snowdrifts up to six meters high, mixed with drifting sand, look like concrete and make it almost impossible for the helpers to make headway. The NVA even had to blow up the snow mountains on the railway line from Bergen to Sassnitz. For two weeks, the neighboring island of Hiddensee can only be supplied by air or by horse-drawn sleigh across the frozen Baltic Sea. Shipping traffic comes to a complete standstill in numerous port cities on the Baltic Sea, including Flensburg, Kiel, Wismar and Rostock. Ice floes have piled up in the harbors there and make passing impossible.
Power failure puts farmers in distress
Farmers are particularly hard hit. On farms where the electricity has gone out, the milking machines don't work and the animals have to be milked by hand. Since the roads are blocked, there is a lack of concentrated feed and the milk cannot be collected. Many farmers freeze them in the snow on plastic sheeting.
DDR power supply completely collapses
In the GDR, the entire power supply even collapses at times, since lignite mining in the south of the country has to be interrupted because of the cold, on which the electricity and district heating supply in the GDR is largely dependent. People are freezing in their homes. In Lubmin near Greifswald, on the other hand, the employees of the "Bruno Leuschner" nuclear power plant there manage to keep operations going. The plant produces around ten percent of East Germany's electricity.
Snow disaster causes only minor problems in Hamburg
Although the ice impedes shipping traffic in Hamburg, the Hanseatic city gets off lightly in the snowy winter.Hamburg, on the other hand, got off relatively lightly in the snow disaster. Air traffic at Fuhlsbüttel Airport is temporarily collapsing because the orientation lights on the runway are repeatedly covered by snow. Public transport, on the other hand, can be maintained in the inner city area. There are also no problems with the power supply, because after the great storm surge in 1962, the Hamburg electricity company replaced almost all overhead lines with underground cables.
In order to get the streets and sidewalks free again as quickly as possible, the then mayor Hans-Ulrich Klose asked the people of Hamburg to help with the snow shoveling. The town hall and district offices provide shovels, brooms and snow shovels, and there are 300 shovels in the hall of the town hall alone. At the same time, the unusually severe onset of winter offers the opportunity for a rather rare amusement:many people in Hamburg use the snow to glide through the parks on skis. On the Moorweide, Georg Thoma, Olympic champion in Nordic combined, gives interested Hamburg residents an introduction to cross-country skiing on the "Dammtor-Loipe".
Second snow chaos in February 1979
On the autobahn between Hamburg and Hanover, the Bundeswehr is trying to clear the road with armored recovery vehicles.On February 13, disaster alarms are raised again in many parts of the country. Parts of Lower Saxony are particularly affected this time, including Friesland, Oldenburg and Rotenburg/Wümme. In East Friesland, the snow masses are partially bringing the power supply to a standstill. On the railway lines, switches and tracks are repeatedly blown over by snow and have to be shoveled free.
In Schleswig-Holstein, the Baltic Sea coast is again affected. In front of Kiel and Flensburg, the ice is up to two meters high. Around 80 ships are stranded in the Kiel Fjord, and the Kiel Canal is no longer navigable. Between Ascheberg and Preetz, 40 train passengers have to be rescued from a stuck train by helicopter using a cable winch.
Snow in some places until May
Northern Germany will be covered by a complete blanket of snow for weeks to come. It takes time until all streets are completely cleared. There is still snow in Husum until May 20, 1979.
According to crisis researcher Frank Roselieb, the extraordinarily harsh winter cost the lives of 17 people in the Federal Republic alone. Exact numbers were not known. Nevertheless, the experience of the extreme winter also has a positive side for many people. The common misery has welded neighbors together. Everyone helped the other where they could. "It was an incredibly friendly togetherness. People talked to each other more again. The paths were cleared together. There was a sense of community that I like to remember," recalled firefighter Johann Müller from the East Frisian north in an interview the NDR.
Can the snow disaster happen again?
Is a century winter like 1978/1979 still possible today? Despite climate change, meteorologists do not rule it out - extremely cold winters are becoming rarer. However, they can still occur. However, the federal states would be better prepared for a catastrophe today, because there are now orderly processes for such scenarios. There could be power outages and they would also affect the entire fixed and mobile network. However, at least larger farms with animal husbandry now have emergency power generators.