Dana Liechti and Sven Zaugg
Gradually the water masses are withdrawing from the floodplains in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate, while the helpers feverishly search for fatalities in the rubble of destroyed towns, on flooded streets and fields.
By yesterday evening, the staggering number rose to more than 150. According to the local police, over 90 people died in the greater Ahrweiler area south of Bonn alone. It is to be feared that more will be added, the authorities said. More than 600 people are injured and countless are still missing.
In addition to apocalyptic destruction, the storms triggered an almost indescribable despair. The flood came on Thursday night – hundreds of thousands were surprised in their sleep. The auxiliaries try to save what can still be saved. In the alleys of flooded towns, excavators lift cars that have been thrown over one another and wedged by the pressure of the flash floods. Tables, chairs, benches, damaged and muddy household items of all kinds – often the entire belongings of those affected – are lined up in front of the damaged houses. They are pictures like from a war zone.
Infrastructure has collapsed
Power supply and mobile communications have collapsed in large parts of the flooded regions. Many power plants only run in emergency mode, even a prison had to be evacuated.
In neighboring Belgium, the disaster has claimed 24 lives so far, as the National Crisis Center announced on Saturday. In parts of the province of Flemish Brabant, the situation is still critical. In the badly affected province of Liège, however, the search work has almost been completed.
In the Netherlands, too, thousands had to leave their homes, including in the city of Venlo in the south of the country with 100,000 inhabitants. There a hospital with 200 patients had to be evacuated as a precaution on Friday.
Tens of thousands of auxiliary workers have been in constant use in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands for days; they are supported by relief corps from Austria, among others. Yesterday at noon, Germany’s Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier (65, SPD) visited the rescue services in Erftstadt together with the North Rhine-Westphalian Prime Minister Armin Laschet (60), the CDU’s candidate for chancellor. Laschet lamented a “flood disaster of historic proportions”. Chancellor Angela Merkel (67) is expected today in the devastated region in Rhineland-Palatinate.
All candidates see climate change as the cause
The Green Chancellor candidate Annalena Baerbock (40) broke off her vacation and traveled to the crisis area, but deliberately refrained from being accompanied by the press. She wrote on Twitter: “The conversations are getting under your skin. As before, not all places have been reached, people are further cut off. At the same time, there is an incredible solidarity in helping to take in those affected at home and to support them. “
The SPD’s top candidate for the Bundestag election on September 26, Finance Minister and Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz (63), got an idea of the situation in Bad Neuenahr. He promised extensive financial aid from the federal government.
This week’s catastrophe could have a lasting impact on the elections in just over two months and make climate policy their most important issue. Laschet, Baerbock and Scholz agree that historical weather events should be viewed as a result of man-made climate change.
Catastrophic failure
Meanwhile, the first criticism of the disaster control is loud in the German media. The “Bild” newspaper laments a “failure before the flood”. The disaster control had not fulfilled its task in large parts of the flood areas. Sirens remained silent in many places, there were hardly any warning announcements, or if they were too late, and public broadcasters continued to broadcast pop music when people died. Civil protection is one of the most important tasks of the state – but the system has failed, hundreds of thousands have been left in the lurch.