Twice in a row, for a total of six days, the district of Griesen with its 70 inhabitants was cut off from the outside world.
The residents take it sporty, but criticize the lack of communication on the part of the Weilheim road construction authority.
That should change now.
Garmisch-Partenkirchen
- The doctor's appointment Tuesday morning?
Painted.
Purchasing also has to wait.
For how long?
“We don't know.” Wolfgang Hagen is frustrated.
He wrote the daily newspaper on behalf of his fellow citizens from Griesen.
For days, the district was cut off from the outside world because of the massive fresh snow.
First Thursday to Friday, January 14th to 15th.
Then again from Sunday to Wednesday.
In the end, the 70 residents only had a short time on Saturday to do their shopping in Grainau or Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
To stock up for possible further days in isolation.
Because of the protective measures against Corona, the people of Griesen are currently not allowed to drive across the border to Austria.
When the citizens ran out of petrol for the snow blowers, a resident tried to get to the petrol station on the Tyrolean side six kilometers away.
No chance.
The police sent him back at the border.
But they couldn't go inland either: branches and trees fell onto federal highway 23 due to the masses of snow.
A precarious situation.
“I've never experienced anything like this before,” says local resident Anette Kraus.
She has lived in the secluded district for 20 years.
“We're already used to a lot.” But the fact that it is tight for six days in quick succession was new to her too.
Even the electricity had to be turned off for an hour.
Since the sidewalks are not cleared, even walking the dog was a challenge.
“It was a very unfavorable constellation due to the weather,” says the authority
The residents of Griesen know, of course, that the Weilheim road construction authority, which is responsible for the route, cannot help with the weather.
"Due to the weather, it was a very unfavorable constellation," explains Michael Meister, press spokesman for the authority.
Up to 80 centimeters of fresh snow fell from the sky within a very short time.
Then it got warmer, which made the snow more difficult.
Trees and branches broke.
The B23 became a life-threatening route.
“You can't prepare for it directly,” says Meister.
The office does its best every year to be prepared anyway.
Every summer they sift the edge of the route together with the state forests.
Cut down old, weak trees.
Thoroughly cut down to prevent dangerous situations in winter.
But Meister makes it clear: “We still cannot scan every tree individually.
If everything comes at once in terms of weather, as in the past few days, it will always be necessary to close the route. "
The citizens encounter the lack of communication
Hagen can even somehow understand that.
But what strikes him is the lack of communication.
“We are cut off from the outside world without being informed of it by anyone.” And “Nobody feels responsible for informing us about it”.
The road construction authority wants to improve this.
“We will work out a solution internally as to how we can best come into contact with the people from Griesen in the future,” says Meister.
That would theoretically be possible via email or notice.
For this purpose, the office would like to get in closer contact with the market town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
No matter what the solution ultimately looks like, things should get better next winter.
