The city of Dusseldorf wrotethat “up to 13,000 people within a 500 m radius (danger area A) around the site (Ahnfeldstr.) have to leave their homes” by midnight at the latest. After that, the bomb should be defused in the night. The police and public order office cordoned off the roads leading to it. It is recommended to drive around the danger areas as far as possible. However, because not everyone had actually left the danger area by midnight, the fire brigade went from door to door at night and asked people to go to safety.
Loudspeaker vehicles are used in the danger areas. The city of Düsseldorf posted the following image via X/Twitter at 9:48 p.m., which according to the fire department shows the danger area:
Dusseldorf: 10-hundredweight bomb from World War II is defused over the course of the night | Image source: City of Düsseldorf via X / Twitter
Public transport is also affected by the evacuation: There will be restrictions on rail traffic between Düsseldorf and Duisburg and from Düsseldorf main station to Cologne. Bahn AG train traffic will be completely suspended for the duration of the defusing. On the part of the Rheinbahn, the tram lines U71, 706, 708, 725 must stop running from the time the roads are closed until the end of the mitigation. The 812 bus line is also affected.
Assistance with evacuation and contact points
People who are unable to leave their homes on their own due to a disability, for example, can call the fire brigade control center on 19222 to request transport. The fire brigade then supports the evacuation. Wheelchairs that need to be taken along should definitely be reported.
According to the city of Düsseldorf, the danger phone is now manned on 3889 889. Two contact points have also been set up – one in the Maria Montessori Comprehensive School at Lindenstraße 140 and in the Max Planck High School at Koetschaustraße 36. There the city of Düsseldorf organizes childcare.
At the intersections of Brehmplatz, Rethelstr./Humboldtstr., Kühlwetterstr./Grunerstr. and Tußmannstr./Grunerstr. Rheinbahn buses are available for the transfer to the care centers.
The Website of the city of Düsseldorf was temporarily unavailable for technical reasons, but is now online again.
The WDR also reports on this topic in the current radio news, for example on WDR 2.