Welcome to Längenfeld, in the Tirol Region of the Otzal Alps in Austria - our new alpine residence for the next few weeks.
We spent a very happy morning getting to know the area by strolling through the village and collecting maps and guides for hikes and climbs from the local climbing store and the tourist info office.
Just below our apartment, there is a waterside trail where the geography student in me was delighted to observe two different sediment coloured rivers meeting.
The main valley river has been straightened out and was very fast flowing.
Later in the afternoon, the skies began to show signs of a classic alpine storm building.
And shortly after, the wind, rain, thunder and lightning was unleashed on us! Amazingly, I managed to capture a few photos of the forked lightning.
Thankfully we were already safely at home as it was a pretty intense storm. As we watched the forked lightning from the safety of our back door, the ground shook. Soon into the storm, the power went out, then later a loud warning siren like a war time air raid sounded throughout the valley, which was rather concerning. We didn’t know what it meant, so stayed out. The skies were filled with leaves and debris blowing about them water also starting coming in through the porch roof!
Fire engines zoomed past with sirens on as we sat and watched the rains pass by. All the houses nearby seem to have no power either. Once the worst had passed, climbing was clearly out of the question , so we decided to go out for a run on the nearby forest trail, that took us up to a chapel above the village.
Although wet, it was still warm and after the chapel, we had to cross a rather exciting wobbly bridge!
Then it was a steady downhill to reach the valley floor where we are living.
On the trail back downhill, we came across all sorts of devastation from the storm. Trees had fallen from the mountain side and blocked the road at several points.
And even more scary was when we came across some big rockfall sections!
A tunnel section through the cliffs felt safe at least!
But we sprinted out the end before anything else could fall down!
In the evening things began to clear up, but the whole town is still without power! All the shops and cafes have closed and a helicopter is flying from the field outside, up and down the valley!
Somewhat fortuitously for us, we are equipped with camping gear and a small stock of food. As well as power outs, there is no phone or internet connections either, so the whole village so it was back to old style entertainments in the evening, while camp cooking in the kitchen.
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