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The Ahr Valley Bridge in Rech (Rhineland-Palatinate) was destroyed by the flood
Photo: Thomas Frey / dpa
It has been almost a week since the violent floods in western Germany caused chaos and destruction.
Meanwhile, the Vice President of the Technical Relief Organization (THW), Sabine Lackner, sees little chance of finding survivors.
"We are currently still looking for missing people, for example when clearing the paths or pumping out the cellars," she told the editorial network in Germany.
"Unfortunately, at this point in time it is very likely that you can only rescue victims, not save them."
The flood death toll had risen to at least 170 by Tuesday.
122 dead were confirmed from Rhineland-Palatinate and 48 from North Rhine-Westphalia.
People were still missing on Tuesday - 155 in the particularly affected district of Ahrweiler in the north of Rhineland-Palatinate.
Around 40,000 people there were considered to have been affected by the consequences of the flood.
THW Vice Lackner warned against the quick assignment of blame, according to which a better warning system could have prevented fatalities. “Of course we'll have to work through the processes. But I find this debate unfortunate three or four days after the disaster. ”She advised against“ speaking of failure now and looking for the guilty ”. Many people are still standing in front of the ruins of their livelihoods, and many support measures are still in progress. »This debate needs calm - and so do the experts. Most of them are currently still in use in the floodplains. "
As a lesson from the disaster, the THW deputy boss advocated reviving "supposedly old-fashioned things": If cell phone networks, telephones and electricity fail, the warning app is no longer of any use, said Lackner.
»Why not use loudspeakers to warn you on the street, for example if a bomb is found?
Many sirens have also been abolished in recent years, they are needed.
And the population should be able to distinguish the warning tones again. "
Laschet announces EUR 200 million
flood
aid for his country
North Rhine-Westphalia's Prime Minister Armin Laschet said on Tuesday evening in ZDF's »heute journal« that the state government in Düsseldorf would provide 200 million euros for the victims of the storm. "The state of North Rhine-Westphalia will provide 200 million euros, which the federal government will then double," he said. According to Düsseldorf government circles, the federal government has agreed to double emergency aid from the federal states.
So far it is known that the federal government wants to bring 400 million euros in emergency aid this Wednesday, according to a cabinet proposal.
They should be borne half by the federal government and half by the states.
This is intended to eliminate the worst damage to buildings and communal infrastructure and to bridge special emergencies.
But it will not stay with these 400 million, it said from Düsseldorf coalition circles.
Laschet explained that the aid should now be paid out quickly and unbureaucratically.
After all, there are storm victims who have nothing left after the flood - "not even a credit card," said Laschet, who was connected from Aachen.
When asked about his much criticized laughter during a speech by the Federal President during a visit to the Erftstadt storm disaster area last Saturday, Laschet said that these "few seconds" in which he laughed had "annoyed him beyond measure."
This moment did not reflect the day.
"But when you are out and about around the clock, there are moments like this."
aar / dpa / AFP
