fact finder
Status: 07/26/2021 2:36 p.m.
Falsely assigning blame and allegations about a lack of help: The most recent flood disaster was also accompanied by disinformation – with tangible consequences.
The flood disaster caused a lot of suffering. Therefore, there is now much discussion about better protective measures and the causes. Many experts do not necessarily see extreme weather as a result of climate change, but they emphasize that such events can now be observed more often.
The hydrologist Ralf Merz from the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research in Halle assumes that by 2050 floods could pose an increasing threat, especially in areas in Northern and Western Europe. The Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research anticipates that there will be significantly more hot days by 2060. For many years, scientists have been warning of the dangers that the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the earth’s atmosphere brings with it.
AfD speaks of wind turbines
The AfD politician Stephan Brandner, on the other hand, brought his own statement into play. In an interview he said that there are 25,000 to 30,000 wind turbines in Germany alone – and probably hundreds of thousands worldwide. And they would “of course also take the energy out of the wind,” says Brandner. That probably also has an impact on the weather. “I don’t want to say that wind turbines are to blame for the flooding,” says Brandner, but the climate is a complex system and if you change something in one place, something can change elsewhere.
Toralf Staud, editor at the science portal klimafakten.de, thinks it is “completely absurd when it is suggested here that the weakening of the jet stream might have something to do with the installation of wind turbines”. According to Staud, the “true microgram” in the claims is that wind turbines take some energy out of the atmosphere: “Locally and to a very limited extent, this can actually result in small changes in the wind – there is already a lot of research on this. But the jet stream is a strong wind band that races around the North Pole at a height of around 15 kilometers and up to 500 km / h – it is complete nonsense that wind turbines close to the ground could have an influence on it. ”
Allegations against RWE
While the AfD creates a context for wind turbines, environmentalists point to the RWE group in the wake of the disaster. He pumps the Hambach opencast mine empty instead of using the pumps for civil protection. And the water will be pumped into the already full Erft, according to the allegation in a tweet that was shared almost 2500 times. Activists from “Endegebiet” also accused RWE of having already pumped the open pit mine empty, while places elsewhere were still under water. “The pumps would have been better used elsewhere.”
Due to heavy rainfall, the small river Erft burst its banks in Erftstadt-Blessem and caused massive damage. The lock (left) was also damaged in the process.
Image: AP
RWE announced that the approximately 1500 pumps have to be operated continuously for operational reasons: The pumping out of the groundwater (sump) is “necessary to keep the opencast mines dry and to keep the steep slopes stable”. The latter applies “also and especially in periods with heavy rainfall. If an opencast mine were to be filled up, all the equipment (bucket wheel excavator, stacker, conveyor system, etc.) would be destroyed. And the embankments would collapse. An opencast mine cannot serve as a rain retention basin” a speaker.
In addition, he rejected the accusation that the opencast mine drainage had additionally burdened the flood-bearing Erft: “Good water volume management ensures that on balance even less water from the opencast mines reaches the Erft during floods.” In addition, there is the relieving effect of two large retention areas at Kerpen-Horrem and Bedburg, where large amounts of water were discharged as planned.
Expert confirms representation
The hydrologist Bernd Bucher also contradicted the speculation that RWE had made the flood worse. In the event of a flood near Kerpen, the group has a duty to pump at least as much water from the Erft into the Rhine as it discharges further down into the Erft, said Bucher in conversation with the portal “Riff-Reporter”. “In the current case it was even the case that RWE pumps over what it can pump over and thus even overcompensates. In addition, there was no real flood where they introduce the swamp water, namely in Bergheim an der Wiebachleitung.” Even if it had not been compensated, Bucher continued, RWE would not have intensified the flood.
Clean-up work in stormy regions brings landfills to their capacity limits
Axel John, SWR, daily news 8:00 p.m., July 25, 2021
False allegations
Accusations against authorities and aid organizations, which allegedly did not act quickly enough, showed tangible consequences. THW helpers were insulted and even attacked.
In the Ahrweiler district, which was particularly badly affected by the flooding, a police-like car with the inscription “Peace Vehicle” was seen. According to the police, the false report had been spread from this vehicle that the number of emergency services would be reduced. Videos and messages are also circulating in social networks and messenger services, falsely claiming that the police and fire brigade are largely inactive to help.
“Lateral thinkers”, citizens of the Reich and right-wing extremists tried in the regions affected by the flood disaster to use the suffering of the people for their cause. The Rhineland-Palatinate State Office for Social Affairs, Youth and Supply had closed a family center in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, apparently operated by supporters of the “lateral thinking” movement.