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After the breakdown of a line from the Winzerla power plant, around 6,500 households in Jena in the north of the city are without district heating and hot water in the freezing winter.

So far, it has not yet been possible to foresee when the supply could be resumed, the municipal utilities announced on Wednesday.

Mayor Thomas Nitzsche (FDP) declared the disaster in the evening.

According to the city, the corona contact restrictions do not apply to those affected by the cold - they can be accepted by relatives, friends or acquaintances.

The municipal utilities were initially unable to provide information on the cause of the damage.

The people in the affected area were asked to keep windows and doors closed in order to delay the cooling of their homes as long as possible.

Nitzsche asked the Jenaer to take in those affected by the district heating failure as far as possible.

The usual hygiene rules should be observed.

Until the heat supply is restored, the disaster should apply, said.

The city of Jena and the municipal utilities set up a joint crisis team.

According to the information, this is currently working on the provision of emergency accommodation and on the procurement of replacement supply systems, for example to temporarily supply social facilities and nursing homes in the area.

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The city wanted to organize accommodation in gyms and hotels.

She also set up a hotline (03641/49 55 99).

The fire brigade has taken on the task of setting up sleeping places, it said.

At first it was unclear how many people would have to take advantage of the offer.

"We assume that many were able to arrange accommodation themselves with the help of relatives and friends," said a city spokesman.

The public utilities said they had been calling for this all day.

Search for the damaged area is ongoing

In the evening the residential area looked deserted with modern buildings.

Only a few windows were lit.

Meanwhile, construction workers were working at an intersection and cutting the road surface under a thick blanket of snow.

The public utilities said that the difficult search for the damaged area was in progress.

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The residents of residential areas in the Jena-Nord II and Zwätz area had also been asked to prepare for a reduction in heating.

The network there was still working, but only with the residual heat present in the network and with the support of heat from a biogas plant in Zwatzen.

According to the information, the area was also separated from the heat supply from the power plant in Winzerla.

In the morning, a cloud of hot steam had escaped from the underground district heating main.

Employees of the municipal utilities worked with pumps and suction devices to remove hot water up to 130 degrees.

In the afternoon water was still seeping into the pit.

Only when the damaged area could be located and opened, it was said that repairs could begin.