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Cleaning up in Bad Münstereifel: Companies also badly affected
Photo: Uta Wagner / imago images / Uta Wagner
The flood disaster, especially in western Germany, also caused massive damage to companies in the region. The President of the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DIHK), Peter Adrian, said that it was currently difficult to give an exact amount. »What can be said: Thousands of companies of all sizes are directly or indirectly affected by damage to the infrastructure. The total damage is certainly in the billions. "
Many entrepreneurs are facing the ruins of their life's work, said Adrian, who himself lives in Trier, where the Ehrang district was also hard hit by the disaster.
He himself looked at the effects of the flood in several regions.
“It stuns you when you see what happened there.
I visited a welding technology company.
The building has been severely damaged in parts.
It's a mud desert.
The welding robots, the machines and systems - everything is broken and dirty.
There is no electricity and no tap water.
I've also seen a lot of transformers that are still under water. "
Reconstruction will be a huge task.
The lack of specialists is also a problem here.
"For example, we currently need a lot of electricians on site, but there aren't that many in the regions."
Adrian spoke out in favor of unbureaucratic help. When a small medium-sized company is faced with the rubble of its company, it is important that it does not have to fill out ten forms to get support. Many of them are currently unable to use the Internet because the electricity and telephone networks have not yet worked again. “That means we need pragmatic, quick and unbureaucratic direct help to alleviate the first misery. It is important that there are contacts in the local authorities. "
On Wednesday, the federal government decided to provide emergency flood aid of initially 200 million euros.
The countries concerned are to contribute funds in the same amount, so that a total of up to 400 million euros is available.
Finance Minister Olaf Scholz (SPD) made it clear that the federal government would make more money available if necessary.
fdi / dpa
