VIENNA, Austria –The European Championships had never seen anything like it before. While Germany were handing Turkey a taste of their own medicine in the Basel semifinal, in neighboring Austria the CNN team we were being evacuated from Vienna's Fan Zone along with 25,000 football supporters.

The public viewing area in the Austrian capital has been filled with tens of thousands of fans for every match during Euro 2008, allowing spectators to view the action on giant screens and replicate the atmosphere present at the stadiums. On Wednesday it happened again, with Turkish and German supporters congregating in the area.

CNN producer Chris Eldergill, CNN cameraman Andrew Waller and myself were also there in the media centre.

All was going according to plan in the first half, but circumstances changed when a storm warning was issued over the public announcement system and on giant screens. We all thought it was just being done as a precaution - but soon found out we were wrong.

During the second half, the winds suddenly started to intensify and lightning began to strike. Another warning was issued and this time the message was clear - everyone had to evacuate the premises.

As heavy rain began to pound down, fans were cleared by police and security. By this time we had lost the signal from the game as a power cut in the International Broadcast Centre in Vienna affected the world feed. We started to feel helpless, unable to follow the football and facing the prospect of having our equipment outside damaged by the rain.

Our initial plan had been to produce several live reports, but that idea was scrapped because of the conditions. All we could do was wait and watch.

Outside the rain continued to fall and the wind swirled. The evacuation operation continued with success, although later we heard reports of two serious injuries after some fans were trampled near the fences.

The game was clearly not a priority by now. As news filtered through that Germany had scored a last minute goal in Basle, we were told that it was our turn to evacuate the area. Soon riot police and security started to usher us out.

As we left the building with our equipment under heavy rain, we called headquarters in Atlanta, filing a live report on what we were up against in Vienna. We finally managed to get back to our hotel at 1am, minus our belongings. Not what we had expected at the start of the evening...

– CNN sports producer Chris Eldergill also contributed to this report