Twice in a row, for a total of six days, the Garmisch-Partenkirchen district of Griesen with its 70 inhabitants was cut off from the outside world.
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 to our newspaper on
behalf of his
fellow citizens from Griesen
.
The district was there for days because of the massive
fresh snow
cut off from the outside world.
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
.
Masses of snow in Garmisch-Partenkirchen: Police cordon off the border to Austria
Because of the protective measures to
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.
Masses of snow in Garmisch-Partenkirchen: B23 became a life-threatening route
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
. "
Masses of snow in Garmisch-Partenkirchen: The citizens are struck by 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.
To this end, the office would like to come into closer contact with the
market town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen
.
No matter what the solution ultimately looks like, things should get better next winter.
The tense snow situation also caused major problems for the fire brigade.
They had to dig hydrants free.