As of: October 23, 2023 8:31 p.m
After the severe Baltic Sea storm surge, Schleswig-Holstein’s state government agreed on financial help for those affected. Prime Minister Daniel Günther wants to discuss a reconstruction fund with the municipalities next week. Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania will take stock of the damage on Tuesday.
“I don’t want to speculate about sums,” said the CDU politician on Monday after a cabinet meeting in Kiel. First, there must be clarity about the extent of the damage. The state government wants to provide loans to help those who need bridging assistance until insurance companies cover the damage. As Günther announced, a hardship regulation should apply to those affected who were denied insurance coverage by their insurance companies due to a building location at risk of flooding.
Special session of the state parliament planned
Next week, Günther wants to discuss a joint reconstruction fund with the municipalities on November 1st. The state expects the federal government to also participate. On November 3rd, the CDU politician wants to make a government statement on how to deal with the consequences of the storm at a special session of the state parliament.
A storm had pushed the water from the Baltic Sea against beaches and cliffs with hurricane-force winds on Friday and Saturday night, causing exceptionally high water levels. According to initial estimates, in Schleswig-Holstein alone there will be damage in the three-digit million range. People there and in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania are now hoping for help from politicians.
More than 35 boats sank – millions in damages in the Olympic harbor in Kiel
According to the city’s estimates, the storm caused damage worth tens of millions of euros on the Kiel beaches and in the Schilksee Olympic port. From Tuesday onwards, sunken yachts in Schilksee will be recovered using a floating crane, a city spokeswoman said on Monday. Mayor Ulf Kampf (SPD) spoke on Sunday of a disaster and more than 35 sunken boats. Many more were damaged. Hamburg-based Pantaenius yacht insurance alone expects 400 yachts to be damaged or sunk. “At the hotspots, 30 percent of them are total losses,” said sales manager Dirk Hilcken on Monday in Kiel. He estimates that around 2,000 yachts along the entire German Baltic Sea coast fell victim to the storm surge.
Ostholstein district: Damage probably in the double-digit million range
In many municipalities in the Ostholstein district, the amount of damage cannot yet be quantified, said Fehmarn’s tourism chief Oliver Behncke. “We estimate the amount of damage to the public infrastructure alone to be in the double-digit million range,” said Behncke. In order to get an overview, the island of Fehmarn was flown over with a drone on Monday. Only then did the full extent of the damage become clear. “We have massive bank loss around the island, at least three larger campsites were massively flooded and some still are,” he said.
A 33-year-old woman also died in the storm on Fehmarn when a falling tree hit her car. The storm surge also caused serious damage in the Baltic Sea resort of Heiligenhafen. In the marina, jetties could not withstand the forces of nature and fell apart, said Stephan Karschnick, the municipality’s deputy mayor. He was concerned about the stability of the dikes. “They held, but the dike bases are now exposed,” said Karschnick. “If there is another storm in the next few days, the dikes could give in and break.” The mayor of Scharbeutz, Bettina Schäfer, also expects damage “certainly in the millions”.
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Damp: Dike is being repaired – new easterly wind forecast
In Damp, the dike breach is being repaired with so-called big packs, and gaps are being sealed with sandbags. “So that we can at least temporarily close it,” says the district fire chief of Rendsburg-Eckernförde, Matthias Schütte. Because: “Slightly stronger easterly winds are forecast for Tuesday.” This is also why it is so important that the country has promised quick aid. As long as the clean-up work is not yet completed, areas affected by flooding – especially beaches and cliffs – should be avoided.
Power supply largely restored in Schleswig
Schleswig is now increasingly returning to normality. The city announced on Monday that the municipal utilities are working on bringing the remaining households affected by the shutdowns back online. In the city on the Schlei, all road closures have now been lifted. For safety reasons, the Königswiesen and the Schleipromenade remain closed until further notice. Water pollution such as oil films will be assessed in the next few days.
2.27 meters – water level in Flensburg reaches century mark
Even in the Flensburg port area, which was severely affected by the floods, most of the electricity is flowing again. “However, it may be that individual households do not yet have electricity,” said a spokesman for the municipal utilities on Monday. This could be the case after problems caused by water. In Flensburg, the Baltic Sea exceeded the century mark on the night of the flood. The water level rose to 2.27 meters above the mean water level. In 1904, 2.23 meters were measured.
Flensburg’s mayor defends the lack of presence
There was criticism of Flensburg’s mayor Fabian Geyer (non-party), particularly on social networks. He is accused of not being publicly present on the night of the storm. Geyer commented on this on Monday: “I underestimated the power of images. I thought it was essentially about taking action and making the right decisions with our experts on site.” He wants to meet with the affected port residents in the coming days to discuss possible relief measures.
Politicians call for “long-term strategies”
The Schleswig-Holstein Economics Minister Claus Ruhe Madsen (CDU) emphasized on Sunday that long-term strategies were needed to make the coast more resilient. It is particularly important to strengthen disaster protection in the Ministry of the Interior, said FDP parliamentary group leader Christopher Vogt. “The 15 positions announced by the state government must now finally be filled so that our state can be even better prepared for such disasters in the future.”
MV: Backhaus presents its first damage assessment on Tuesday
MV Agriculture Minister Till Backhaus wants to present an initial balance sheet at the cabinet meeting on Tuesday.
The storm surge did not hit Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania as hard as Schleswig-Holstein, but there was still some significant damage, especially in the coastal towns. Environment and Agriculture Minister Till Backhaus (SPD) wants to present an initial assessment at the cabinet meeting on Tuesday. On Sunday he got an idea of the situation in Wieck am Darß, where a hinterland dike broke in two places over the weekend.
Storms and floods have also left their mark on the national parks. In the Western Pomerania Lagoon Area National Park, some paths, barriers and visitor platforms were affected, a park spokeswoman said on Monday. A part of the Darßer Ort circular hiking trail made of wooden planks was washed out and remains closed for the time being. A beach entrance on the north beach is also not passable. However, most of the paths in the forests are clear again. Clean-up work is also underway in the Jasmund National Park in the northeast of the island of Rügen. “At least the escape routes are now clear again,” a spokesman reported on Monday.
Sassnitz: Damage probably “in the three-digit million range”
On Rügen, the storm primarily hit the city of Sassnitz. The storm surge destroyed the entire promenade there. In addition, the harbor pier and the spa square are said to have been damaged. Both Leon Kräusche, mayor of Sassnitz, and the Sassnitz harbor master Ronald Damp estimated the resulting material damage to the NDR in MV at an amount “in the three-digit million range”.
A 20 meter long ship sank in the sailing harbor in Greifswald due to the storm surge. The Greifswald fire department said emergency services secured and moored the ship on Monday morning. In Stahlbrode between Stralsund and Greifswald, port facilities and ships lying there were massively damaged. Stahlbroder Mayor Thomas Pauketat estimated on Monday: “The damage is probably in the millions.” The White Fleet, as the operator of the Rügen ferry between Stahlbrode and Glewitz, declared the season to be over early “due to massive storm damage”.
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