The German Weather Service has mobilised a national furniture-securing corps after forecasters ordered every garden chair, parasol and trampoline in the northern, central, western and southwestern regions to be fastened to the ground before Sunday's gusts arrived. Officials said the operation would proceed street by street, with no household exempt, regardless of whether the property lies above or below 600 metres.
Under the new directive, citizens must lash their patio tables to fence posts, drive tent pegs through every balcony box and wrap garden sheds in ratchet straps. Municipal crews are walking the length of residential roads with cable ties and checklists, and a spokesperson for the service confirmed that anyone found with an unanchored wheelbarrow will be required to sit beside it until the wind subsides. Schools in affected districts have been converted into staging points where parents collect eyelets and hammers before their shifts.
Forecasters acknowledged that the country's northern coastline faces the most severe conditions, with gusts expected to reach hurricane strength. In response, the Federal Agency for Coastal Protection has instructed residents of the Frisian islands to lean into the wind at a fixed forty-five-degree angle, a posture the agency describes as "the only dignified way to meet a Sunday of this magnitude." Ferry operators have been asked to load every deckchair they own into the hold.
By Sunday evening, the Weather Service expects the storm to ease only briefly before intensifying again, and it has promised to reassess its position at midnight. Asked whether the wind would be permitted to leave on schedule, a senior official replied: "We have secured everything else. The wind is the only thing we have not yet been able to tie down, and we are working on it."