Status: 07/16/2021 4:33 p.m.
The damage is great, the clean-up work is only just beginning and people still need to be rescued. The Bundeswehr is taking part with several hundred soldiers and heavy equipment.
Around 900 Bundeswehr soldiers are currently helping to cope with the flood disaster in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate. The focus is on saving human lives, but support is also provided with “helping hands” and material, said the armed forces base in Bonn. Helicopters, clearing tanks, ambulances, boats, troop transport tanks and a ferry are used.
“The good news is that apparently nobody died here,” said Johanna Wahl, SWR, on the situation in Schuld / Rhineland-Palatinate
daily news 8:00 p.m., July 16, 2021
“The Bundeswehr is on the side of the Germans when they need us,” said Lieutenant General Martin Schelleis, Inspector of the Armed Forces Base. People will be helped “as long as it is necessary”.
Rescue operations and clean-up operations
According to the state command in Düsseldorf, 645 soldiers are deployed in North Rhine-Westphalia alone. In Stolberg near Aachen, the Bundeswehr is helping with two clearing tanks and a rescue helicopter. With seven vehicles it supports the evacuation of districts of Rheinbach and provides accommodation in the region.
Tanks also help clear roads in Hagen. In Euskirchen, the Bundeswehr is providing a gym as emergency accommodation. Camp beds and blankets are provided for Mechernich. The city of Leverkusen is supported in filling sandbags. The spokesman for the state command in North Rhine-Westphalia, Stefan Heydt, expected that the Bundeswehr would also lend a hand in Erftstadt.
In Bitburg in Rhineland-Palatinate, the Bundeswehr supports the residents with medical staff and other work. In the particularly badly affected region of Ahrweiler, people were rescued from rooftops by helicopter. Vehicles that can drive through high water are also used. In Cochem / Mosel, forces of the German armed forces support the erection of flood shields.
Police warn of “disaster tourism”
Hundreds of police officers also supported the clean-up work alongside the fire brigade, the German Red Cross, the technical relief organization and volunteers.
In view of the still dramatic situation in some areas, the police union (GdP) warned against “disaster tourism”. The most important task in the flooded areas is to cordon off these regions, to rescue people from the danger zones and to protect abandoned houses from possible looting, said the deputy GdP federal chairman Jörg Radek.
He pointed out that unteachable bystanders had severely hampered rescue work in the past in comparable disasters. “Instead of recording cell phone videos, gawkers should find out where they can help,” emphasized the unionist. Radek warned that the people in the flood areas needed all possible help to regain hope.