Committee on the Ahr Valley flood: Two resignations – and many unanswered questions

As of: 04/28/2023 5:23 p.m

After 42 sessions, the committee of inquiry into the flood disaster in the Ahr Valley has ended the taking of evidence. What remains – apart from two resignations and serious allegations against those responsible?

42 meetings, 6,700 pages of minutes, 227 witnesses and 20 experts: That is the summary of the investigative committee on the Ahr valley flood in figures. After a year and a half, the committee has now closed the public hearing of evidence. He started his work in October 2021, a few months after the flood disaster, to clarify possible wrong decisions and breaches of duty. 134 people died in the Ahr Valley alone as a result of the flood on July 14th and 15th, 2021.

failure on site

Serious allegations were raised shortly after the disaster. The then district administrator of the Ahrweiler district, Jürgen Pföhler (CDU), gave early warnings of record water levels far too late, only proclaiming the disaster at 11 p.m. – houses were already swept away by the water masses.

Pföhler took a leave of absence shortly afterwards and retired on October 31, 2021. A preliminary investigation is underway against him because of the initial suspicion of negligent bodily harm and negligent manslaughter, and the ex-district administrator refused to testify before the investigative committee. According to the responsible senior public prosecutor Mario Mannweiler from Koblenz, the investigations should be completed in the summer or autumn.

state government negative pressure

High-ranking politicians also came under pressure. Prime Minister Malu Dreyer (SPD), Interior Minister Roger Lewentz (SPD), who was responsible for civil protection, and then Environment Minister Anne Spiegel (Greens) had to take the witness stand. Spiegel left for a four-week family vacation just ten days after the flood. Months later this came out. Spiegel, who was now Federal Minister for Family Affairs, had to resign in April 2022.

Even as state minister, Spiegel was quite controversial – recently it was often said that she was overwhelmed.
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Minister Lewentz also announced his resignation six months later. Background were video recordings and the mission report of the helicopter pilots from the night of the accident, which showed the extent of the disaster. Lewentz said in the committee he could not see any catastrophe in these images, which caused great outrage.

But the pressure on him became overwhelming because the pictures were only presented to the committee after a long delay. The Prime Minister herself was also under pressure – those affected in the Ahr Valley are still waiting for an apology from her.

For the Rhineland-Palatinate Prime Minister Dreyer it is a bitter blow: the resignation of her interior minister.
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different political evaluation

What remains at the end of the largest committee of inquiry in the history of Rhineland-Palatinate? The political assessment varies. The government factions of the traffic light see the main responsibility for the failures of the former district administrator, who was in charge of the operation. In contrast, the opposition, above all the CDU, primarily accuses the state government of failure.

The second questioning of the prime minister in the committee of inquiry into the Ahr flood brought little that was new.
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The Trier political scientist Uwe Jun gave the committee good marks overall. “The talks were often characterized by objectivity and got to the bottom of things. There was comparatively little party-political polemics.”

The government factions had also “collaborated and not clearly tried to hinder the work”. The deficiencies in civil protection were also clearly revealed. As a lesson from this, Rhineland-Palatinate is reorganizing civil protection.

Political observers are particularly disappointed with Prime Minister Dreyer. It was frightening how clueless the state government was, says SWR national correspondent Matthew Zahn. “Dreyer doesn’t want to have known anything about the dramatic developments on the night of the flood. She relied solely on her ministers. That’s not enough for a prime minister.” The performance of the many volunteers is to be rated all the higher. “Unlike the politicians responsible, they surpassed themselves on the night of the flood and achieved superhuman things. That too became impressively clear in the committee of inquiry.”

What’s next?

The work does not end with the end of the taking of evidence. The committee chairman’s report will be prepared by the summer break and then sent to the parliamentary groups and committee members. The final report should be available by the end of the year – two and a half years after the flood disaster.

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