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Aerial photo of the city of Grimma from 2014
Photo: imago images / STAR-MEDIA
As the city administration of Grimma announced on Monday, a larger flood gate and other parts of the local flood protection system have been damaged.
Unknown members apparently willfully bent iron parts that are necessary for operation.
Now the gate can no longer be closed.
Because each chain is only as strong as its weakest link, the entire system is not functional, explained the mayor of Grimma, Matthias Berger (non-party).
If a flood came over the river Mulde, which flows past the town with a population of 30,000, the city southeast of Leipzig would be "completely defenseless".
Grimma hit several times by floods
The complex flood protection system was only completed in 2019 after eleven years of construction.
The costs were then put at 57 million euros.
78 gates of various sizes are built into the two-kilometer-long protective structure, which can be closed within two hours.
The Saxon city with almost 30,000 inhabitants was particularly hard hit by the flood of the century in 2002.
Several houses in the old town as well as the historic Mulde bridge were destroyed.
The place was also affected by the flooding in summer 2013.
The flood protection system is intended to prevent the catastrophe from happening again.
ala / dpa
