Flood disaster: clean-up work and increasing numbers of victims

Rescue and clean-up work continues in Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia. The dead are still being recovered. In some places in North Rhine-Westphalia there is also danger from unstable dams and full mine tunnels.

While the water masses are slowly retreating from some flood areas in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate, the search for fatalities continues in the rubble of the disaster areas. Their number has now increased to at least 141. Numerous people are still missing.

In the greater Ahrweiler area in Rhineland-Palatinate, the number of fatalities rose to at least 98, according to the police. It is to be feared that further deaths will be added, the police said. In addition, there are 670 injured. This number could also increase further. NRW Prime Minister Armin Laschet (CDU) spoke of at least 43 dead in his state. The authorities were reluctant to provide total information on missing persons.

No all-clear in some places in North Rhine-Westphalia

In some areas on the left bank of the Rhine in North Rhine-Westphalia, the situation remains tense. For example in Wassenberg in the Heinsberg district on the border with the Netherlands: After a dam on the Rur river broke, the Ophoven district was evacuated, around 700 people had to leave their homes and were brought to safety. The streets of the district were under water. The city announced, however, that the water levels are currently stagnating. The day before, at the point where the Rur flows into the Meuse, lock flaps on the Dutch side were closed, so that there was a backwater.

Danger at Steinbachtalsperre not averted

In the district of Euskirchen, the dam of the Steinbach dam continues to threaten to break. Large parts of the dam had broken away due to overflow, at the same time an enormously high pressure was on the dam, the Cologne district government announced in the afternoon. As a precaution, further evacuations are planned in the area of ​​the dam. Rescue workers from the Technical Relief Organization (THW) continued to pump water from the reservoir.

In the same district, near the town of Mechernich, there is a risk of old mine tunnels collapsing, some of which are submerged. Holes in the ground with a diameter of up to ten by ten meters have already appeared on an area of ​​20,000 square meters. The fire brigade and the armed forces are on site and checkpoints are being set up. The city pronounced an absolute entry ban for the mining area.

So far no dead in Erftstadt

In the extremely submerged district of Blessem in the North Rhine-Westphalian municipality of Erftstadt south of Cologne, no fatalities have been found so far. A spokesman for the Rhein-Erft district said a spokesman for the Rhein-Erft district could not rule out the possibility of deaths being found. In the village, the Erft had overflowed numerous houses and caused them to collapse in whole or in part. There was erosion, which resulted in larger areas of the soil breaking away. Three houses and part of the historic castle collapsed.

According to the spokesman, the rescue operation for residents has now been completed. 170 people were rescued from the flooded area, some of them with the help of helicopters. The fire brigade nevertheless spoke of an “uncontrolled situation”. The whole place could still slide.

Clearance of the B265

On the federal highway 265, which runs directly past Erftstadt, the German armed forces have started to rescue the vehicles trapped by the floods with armored vehicles. People have not yet been discovered in the trucks and cars, the city fire department said. Numerous vehicles on the B265 had been flooded, in places the water was 12 meters high. A spokeswoman for the Rhein-Erft district had said yesterday that it was unclear whether all the occupants had made it out of their cars in time when they were surprised by the masses of water.

According to the Ministry of the Interior, around 22,000 firefighters and aid organizations such as the Technical Relief Organization (THW) are involved in the rescue work throughout North Rhine-Westphalia. In addition, there would be 700 officers from the state police and forces from the federal police as well as emergency services from Hesse, Lower Saxony and Hamburg.

Infrastructure in Ahrweiler collapsed

In Rhineland-Palatinate, the focus of the floods is in the Ahr valley. The small town of Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, popular with day trippers, with its Wilhelminian style spa architecture, half-timbered district and medieval city wall, is a long field of rubble. The water masses have now decreased here. But the mud still covers everything. In parts of the city there is currently no electricity or water supply, and telephone connections have also failed. The district administrator of the Ahrweiler district, Jürgen Pföhler (CDU), warned against looting.

As the water masses flow away, the damage caused by the floods becomes visible on the Ahr and Moselle. The infrastructure has also suffered serious damage: bridges have been destroyed, and train traffic continues to be severely impaired due to the flooding. A number of roads in the region are still closed or no longer passable.

The police use helicopters to search for other victims of the flood. The search should be completed on Sunday evening by nightfall, said the police in Koblenz. Even more than two days after the accident, people are still missing. The spokesman could not give any information about the exact number.

Appeal to flood tourists

With an urgent appeal, the police also turned to potential flood tourists and onlookers via Twitter. “It is not time for tours in a disaster area,” said the police in Mainz. Because many people had only just “experienced great suffering and losses” there. During the disaster operation since Thursday, there were already disabilities by onlookers.

Cleaning up after the tide has receded

The clean-up work is in full swing in the Ehrang district of Trier. “There are piles of bulky waste,” said a city spokesman. The first residents went back into the houses. “Anyone who slept there had no water or electricity.” According to the city, 670 houses are affected, with almost everything in the basement and ground floor destroyed.

According to the authorities, the first residents will be able to return to their homes during the day. “Of course, this is only possible with buildings that are stable and whose statics are intact,” added a spokeswoman for the management and situation center in Trier. Statics experts therefore continued to investigate how severely individual buildings in the district are affected by flood damage.