Tornadoes rip across Germany injuring dozens

In Germany, a tornado barreled through the western parts of the country injuring dozens of people and causing heavy damage. Police said that up to 40 people had been injured in Paderborn, 10 of them seriously. "Paderborn is horrified. Paderborn is shocked. And Paderborn is more than deeply affected," Mayor Michael Dreier said in a statement. "An unspeakable tornado raged over Paderborn and severely destroyed parts of the city. It’s shocking when you see what can happen to a city in such a short amount of time." Local hotels were offering rooms to storm victims whose homes and apartments were damaged during the severe weather.
In the nearby town of Lippstadt, more than 100 people were temporarily trapped at a local outdoor pool after fallen trees blocked the exit. Authorities in Bavaria said, 14 people were injured  when the wooden hut they were trying to shelter in collapsed during a storm at Lake Brombach, south of Nuremberg. Firefighters from all over the state of North Rhine-Westphalia have been deployed to the towns to help with clean-up operations. The German Meteorological Services had put out a storm warning for Friday and predicted gales of up to 130 kilometers per hour in some places. Large swathes of Germany were under severe weather alerts. 

The European Severe Storms Laboratory estimates only 300 tornadoes form each year across the continent. Because most of the region’s climate is considered to be temperate, moisture and temperature profiles tend not to be as conducive for severe weather as in vast areas of the United States.The Nation Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says around 1,300 tornadoes form each year in the U.S., making the country the leader in seeing these violent windstorms