After storms: the federal government is planning hundreds of millions of emergency aid

The damage caused by the flood disaster runs into billions. The federal government is expected to decide on first emergency aid over 400 million euros tomorrow. Bavaria is also planning quick support in its own country.

The federal government is planning an emergency aid package worth 400 million euros for the flood areas in Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia. This emerges from a draft by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of the Interior, the ARD capital studio is present. The federal cabinet is expected to vote on the plans on Wednesday.

The money is to be used “for the immediate repair of damage to buildings and the local infrastructure as well as for bridging emergencies”, it says in the paper. Half of the sum should be financed by the federal government and half by the states. In addition, Germany wants to apply for funds from the EU solidarity fund.

Countries should decide on the use of aid

The plans also stipulate that the federal government will also contribute 50 percent to the federal states’ rebuilding measures as soon as more is known about the extent and type of damage. The aid should be processed through the affected federal states, as they know exactly in which regions and sectors the support is most urgently needed.

The federal government does not initially want to set up an aid fund, reports the ARD capital studio further. A legislative procedure would be necessary for this and that would take too much time.

Aid funds should flow in July

At the weekend, Federal Finance Minister Olaf Scholz had promised swift emergency aid and announced that he would submit the corresponding plans to the cabinet by the middle of the week. The SPD politician assured that the first aid funds should be paid out to those affected this month.

With a longer-term development program, it will take a little longer, said Scholz. But that should also be in place this year. In the draft, quoted by Reuters, it is said that the prime ministers of the federal states could discuss such a reconstruction fund worth billions at a special meeting in late July or early August.

Bavaria is planning emergency aid in its own country

In Bavaria, too, heavy rains had led to floods in some regions. Country manager Markus Söder announced in the Bavarian Broadcasting announced that the Free State will support those affected with 50 million euros in emergency aid. For example, members of private households should receive up to 5,000 euros in order to be able to repair the damage caused by the flood.

Damage estimated at almost two billion euros

According to media reports, the damage caused by the flood disaster is almost two billion euros, according to initial estimates by the Federal Ministry of Transport. According to information from the dpa news agency and the “Bild” newspaper, damage of around 1.3 billion euros is said to have occurred in the Deutsche Bahn rail network and at the stations. Many stretches were affected and some up to 25 kilometers in length were undermined by the water masses.

But there is also great destruction on the streets and highways. There, too, according to internal surveys, the damage was in the range of several hundred million euros.

Task force in the Ministry of Transport

According to a spokesman for Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer (CSU), a task force in the ministry is working on completing the existing picture of the situation. At the same time, as far as possible, a damage assessment should be carried out in order to determine the likely costs of repairing the damage and to immediately start the reconstruction of the destroyed and damaged infrastructures. To this end, the need for further action is identified and prioritized in individual working groups for road, rail, waterways and digital infrastructures.

The number of fatalities has risen to at least 164: 117 were confirmed from Rhineland-Palatinate and 47 from North Rhine-Westphalia. In both federal states, it was not ruled out that further victims could be found.

Rail traffic further restricted

The disruptions to rail traffic in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate will probably continue for a longer time. According to the Deutsche Bahn, tracks are more than 600 kilometers long. According to this, an initial picture of the situation revealed “massive damage to more than 80 stations and stops, tracks over 600 kilometers in length, switches, signaling technology, signal boxes, bridges and vehicles used in regional, S-Bahn and freight traffic”. However, there is still no comprehensive picture of the situation.

We are working at full speed to record all damage. An initial balance sheet could only be drawn in the coming days – because water still has to drain off in many places, and then mud and rubble have to be removed.

The motorways are also still affected. The A1 in the direction of Koblenz is fully closed between the Köln-West motorway junction and the Erfttal motorway triangle. The A1 in the direction of Dortmund between the Erfttal motorway triangle and the Hürth junction is also fully closed.

There is still a bottleneck on the A1 in the direction of Koblenz between the Cologne-Lövenich and Cologne-Bocklemünd junctions. On the A61 there is a full closure in both directions between the Kerpen and Meckenheim motorway junctions in almost all sections. The blocks could possibly be necessary for months.

Radio stations cut off from the network

The cellular network is also still patchy in the affected areas. The mobile operator Vodafone stated that a sixth of the radio stations were still cut off from the network. Many locations were badly damaged or completely destroyed by the flood. Vodafone said it was hopeful that basic services could be restored in the entire disaster area this week.