© ORF Burgenland

21. 07. 08. - 08:00

• more Panorama news
• RSS Feed Panorama

21. 07. 08. - 08:00

Toilet rained giant hailstones to fill building

An Austrian man is demanding substantial damages after he was blasted off the toilet when hundreds of thousands of hail stones exploded out of it.

Martin Bierbauer said: "I heard the pipes rumbling a bit, and suddenly hailstones the size of golf balls started exploding out of the toilet like it was a popcorn machine.

"There was an avalanche of ice that quickly filled the toilet, then the entire flat, and eventually the entire building."

"I ran down the stairs with the hailstones following me, and other residents did the same."

Another resident, Silvia Streit, said: "I grabbed a board and put it over the toilet, but the pressure was so great, I ended up sitting on the board as the hail flowed through the flat and down the stairs."

Freak weather has led to temperatures of over 35 degrees centigrade in Austria which a few days later plunge to near zero as freak hail storms batter the country.

The incident at the block of flats in Eisenstadt, the capital of the province of Burgenland, was caused by hailstones flooding into a local drain during a torrential downpour, which became blocked.

Local council spokesman Wolfgang Leinner said: "The pressure was too great, the hailstones had to go somewhere and they came out through the toilets it seems."

Austrian Times

Austrian women artists for Haiti
An exhibition and auction by a leading Austrian artist raised 4,500 Euros for female victims of the Haiti earthquake.

Government reveals harsh 2011 budget cut plans
The coalition government has announced drastic plans for higher taxes next year in its bid to reduce the Austrian budget deficit.

Freestyle ski and snowboard event on Semmering
A snowboarding and freestyle skiing contest that was open to all took place at Semmering this weekend.

Strabag bags €40mn Saudi order
Austrian construction company Strabag SE won two assignments in Saudi Arabia together worth 40 million Euros, it has been announced.

Generali Bank has new leadership
Generali Bank reported yesterday (Mon) that it had new leadership following a meeting of its supervisory board.

Skier almost hangs himself on a cable
A skier is in a critical state after skiing into a piste grooming machine cable on Sunday evening at the Wagrain ski area in Salzburg, police said yesterday (Mon).

Media Insider: Journalism Without Borders
As David Rogers reports - An Austrian-based journalist, an Austrian charity and an Austrian marketing company have teamed up to offer help to those in the media spotlight once the media has moved on.

Vienna 'centre of Mafia money-laundering operation'
Vienna was the linchpin of a Mafia money-laundering operation by Italian telecom firms between 2005 and 2007, it emerged yesterday (Mon).

Military frontier patrols useless, says report
Military patrols of Austria’s eastern frontiers are practically useless in terms of increasing public security, the Federal Audit Office (RH) said yesterday (Mon).

Police confiscate French couple's animals
Styrian police confiscated 12 undernourished dogs and a pot-bellied pig they found in a vehicle owned by a French couple moving from Bulgaria to Hungary today (Tues).