Police videos show the extent of the flood disaster in the Ahr Valley – SWR Aktuell

Videos of a police helicopter from the flood night show the extent of the flooding in the Ahr Valley with alarming clarity. The Ministry of the Interior presented the recordings to media representatives for the first time and then published them.

Houses enclosed by masses of water up to the top floor and people who draw attention to themselves with flares from balconies, from the top floors and from roofs: on Tuesday the Ministry of the Interior showed journalists in Mainz the previously non-public police helicopter videos from the flood night in the Ahr Valley .















People and references to individual houses are pixelated in the three videos. The films show footage from the Ahr towns of Mayschoß to Schuld between 10:14 p.m. and 10:42 p.m. on the night of the flood on July 14, 2021. Whole areas are under water.

People on roofs, washed away cars

You can also see (pixelated) people on a garage roof and a car that drives through the masses of water with the rear window wipers and interior lights on. Waves slap against the windows of a house trapped by the flood waters.















The Ministry of the Interior has edited the videos in order to protect the personal rights of those affected, according to their own statements. Certain passages have been made unrecognizable. According to the Ministry of the Interior, the videos were not cut. The SWR decided to publish the videos in the form provided by the ministry because of their high political significance. This should give everyone the opportunity to form their own opinion.

Videos made from police helicopters

A police helicopter recorded the videos late in the evening of the disaster. This happened at a time when many people were still living on the lower reaches of the Ahr, who later died in the floods.

The recordings only became known in September, more than a year after the disaster. According to the Ministry of the Interior, the videos had not been reported as evidence due to the omissions of the two responsible police headquarters. Only after a request from the investigative committee for the release of further evidence should the videos have been handed over by the police to the Ministry of the Interior – according to the ministry.

Rhineland-Palatinate

Almost a year after the flood of the century in the Ahr Valley, the investigative committee interviewed many witnesses in order to gain clarity: how could such a catastrophe have happened?
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Flood night videos put Lewentz in distress

The videos are considered important evidence. Interior Minister Roger Lewentz (SPD) states that he was aware of individual events during the flood night, but had no situational picture of a catastrophe. The CDU and AfD then called for his resignation.

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