Wind turbine near Dornstadt loses blades - danger for highway and railroad line

A blade has broken off a wind turbine near Dornstadt in the Alb-Donau district of Baden-Württemberg. The part, which weighed around 15 tons and was 40 meters long, crashed into a field near the Autobahn 8 freeway and a railroad line on Thursday afternoon, the police said. There was a risk that parts could be blown onto the tracks around 250 meters away and the roadway behind due to the strong wind.

As a result, only a speed of 40 kilometers per hour was temporarily permitted on the freeway and train services were also restricted. The approximately one hundred meter high wind turbine in the Bermaringen-Temmenhausen wind farm initially stopped generating electricity, according to reports. It was initially unclear why the rotor blade broke off. The amount of damage could also not be quantified at first.