Several lifeless and injured in accidents on the A44 | EUROtoday

It stays slippery on the roads of North Rhine-Westphalia – and correspondingly harmful. There was new rainfall on Saturday evening, particularly within the second half – and that led to slippery roads once more, particularly in direction of morning. In Siegerland and Sauerland in addition to within the Westerwald, the bottom temperatures are generally under freezing level.

Official Severe climate warning from black ice

The German Weather Service continues to warn of freezing rain and black ice, particularly in East Westphalia, Hochsauerland and Münsterland. An official storm warning for black ice is in impact till 12 midday for the northeast of North Rhine-Westphalia, elements of South Westphalia and elements of the Bergisches Land.

But individuals in giant elements of the remainder of the nation also needs to put together for attainable slippery circumstances. Only to the left of the Rhine does it look slightly extra relaxed, excluding the Eifel and the Rhein-Sieg district.

According to the WDR climate division, it’s tough to foretell precisely the place will probably be actually slippery. The purpose: black ice doesn’t happen throughout the board. The slipperiness usually solely happens the place rain meets frozen floor.

Some sheet metallic harm within the Soest district

According to a WDR reporter, this can be very slippery within the Soest district: there have been a number of accidents right here within the morning. Cars drove in entrance of partitions and into ditches or lined up the guardrails. But there was nonetheless some harm to the sheet metallic. Two individuals have been barely injured in accidents in Münsterland. Elsewhere there have been apparently hardly any main issues on the roads in North Rhine-Westphalia. The police management facilities reported virtually no particular incidents in response to WDR inquiries within the morning – in contrast to the day earlier than.

Icy roads on Friday: three lifeless in accidents on the A44

There have been dozens of slippery accidents on the evening from Thursday to Friday. It was significantly dangerous on the A44. According to the motorway police, there have been a sequence of great accidents on icy roads between Marsberg and Lichtenau within the Paderborn district on Friday evening.

In one of many accidents, two vans collided, considered one of which caught fireplace. One truck driver died and the motive force of the opposite truck was hospitalized. There was one other accident on the route in direction of Kassel with two deaths. There have been additionally eleven different injured.

Numerous individuals stood within the full closure of the part between Wünnenberg-Haaren and Diemelstadt for nearly twelve hours. Helpers sorted the individuals and distributed drinks and snacks. “They come by regularly,” mentioned a truck driver. “They ask how we are, then they have a sausage with them, we just had pasta – that helps a lot.” The A44 within the course of Kassel was fully closed till late afternoon.

Sudden slippery circumstances shocked the drivers

The truck driver Burkhardt Sommerfeldt was touring on the A44 at evening. He described the state of affairs on website on WDR 4: “It started to rain, two or three minutes later everything was slippery. Then the trucks and cars danced like they were on an ice surface. You can’t brake. Then the semi-trailer pushes the tractor sideways and then the whole thing is no longer exciting. I then had to stop and then I couldn’t get away myself. The truck slid two or three meters backwards. I thought I’d hit it the one that was behind me, but I was lucky.”

Mirror-smooth streets in different elements of North Rhine-Westphalia too

In Münsterland there have been as much as 70 accidents because of the slippery circumstances. There have been over 60 accidents within the Steinfurt district alone. Four individuals have been barely injured – in any other case there was solely sheet metallic harm.

A gritting car additionally slipped into the embankment alongside the railway line in Rheine and threatened to slip onto the tracks. The railway line between Rheine and Salzbergen was briefly closed till the gritter might be recovered.

Our sources:

Broadcast: WDR tv, Current hour, 01/23/20266:45 p.m
Broadcast: WDR 5, Day at 12, 23.01.2026, 12:00 p.m