Five days after the flood disaster in western Germany, questions arise: How did this happen?
Scientists warned days in advance.
Munich / Euskirchen - Dominik Jung excitedly points to the bright red area on the map of Germany behind him. "Rain, rain and no end - it will be really dangerous, especially in these regions," he says, pointing to the west of the country. This is how the video begins that the meteorologist uploaded to Youtube last Tuesday. Title: "Danger to life: floods flood cellars and houses!" Two days later, thousands of people are standing in front of the ruins of their existence. Hundreds are injured. 164 dead were counted by Monday. The police are counting on more. The number of missing persons in Rhineland-Palatinate alone is still in a four-digit range. "It was a catastrophe * with an announcement," Jung now tells our newspaper. "I really don't know what went wrong." Several meteorologists had reported exactly days in advance thatwhere it will rain how much.
The German Weather Service (DWD) also says: In the past, you couldn't have warned of the storm.
Marcus Beyer, DWD meteorologist, says: The first advance warnings were given last Monday morning.
"Why did so many people die?" He tweeted.
The DWD issued the severe weather warnings on Tuesday morning via MOWAS - a disaster warning system of the Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Aid.
"Despite the long lead time, so many people could not be protected and had to die," says Beyer.
"What are the warnings worth when so many people die?"
British hydrologist accuses Germany of “monumental system failure”
Now that the acute danger in the disaster areas has been averted, this is precisely the question that concerns the population. Not only meteorologists have warned of the flood. The British hydrologist Hannah Cloke accuses Germany of a “monumental system failure”. Four days before the flood, the German authorities received precise information via the European early warning system EFAS, says the flood expert from the Times in London. According to satellite data, the Rhineland should be hit by “extreme floods”, especially along the Erft and Ahr rivers and in cities such as Hagen and Altena. Cloke himself worked on the development of EFAS. The aim is to protect people from disasters early enough. Actually.
The death numbers show: The urgent warnings have not reached the population.
In Sinzig in Rhineland-Palatinate, twelve residents of a facility for people with disabilities drowned.
According to ZDF, there was an evacuation report for areas 50 meters to the left and right of the Ahr.
The dormitory was about 200 meters away.
Where is the warning chain broken?
A debate has now broken out in politics.
FDP parliamentary group Vice Michael Theurer sees serious failures for which "Federal Minister of the Interior Seehofer * bears direct personal responsibility".
The FDP parliamentary group has requested a short-term special meeting of the interior committee.
Seehofer had to explain what the federal government knew exactly when - and what was then done.
Horst Seehofer went over to the counterattack
Seehofer (CSU) then went over to the counterattack.
Much of the criticism currently being voiced can be attributed to “very cheap election rhetoric”, he says during a visit to the Steinbachtalbrücke in Euskirchen.
This is almost shabby.
The interior minister drove to the badly affected areas yesterday.
For him, the reporting channels on the part of the federal government would have worked.
He does not want to interfere at the level of the federal states.
Government spokeswoman Martina Fietz admits that there is “continuous need for improvement” in disaster control.
But: According to the Basic Law, the federal states are responsible for this.
The buck is passed on in turn.
The Ministry of the Interior in North Rhine-Westphalia also rejects the guilt.
It forwarded the storm warnings from the DWD to the cities and districts.
A spokesman says that protective measures should be decided on site.
North Rhine-Westphalia Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU) says
live
on
Bild
that disaster control in his country has "no fundamental problems".
But not everything "worked 100 percent" either.
Meteorologist Dominik Jung: Altmeier statement "Totally wrong"
Karl Lauterbach (SPD) says to the
Rheinische Post
: “We are just as poorly prepared for disaster control as for pandemic protection.” Green Chancellor candidate Annalena Baerbock tells
Spiegel
that “an authority is needed that bundles all forces, coming from all over Germany or the EU as quickly as possible - Neighboring states are pulling together helicopters or special equipment. ”It does not demand centralization, but a“ central office function ”for civil protection - as with the Federal Police.
Federal Minister of Economics Peter Altmaier (CDU) says that it is not about blame. The flood came at an unexpected time of the year so that "people didn't have hours or days to prepare." Meteorologist Dominik Jung is shocked by this statement. “Totally wrong,” he thinks.
Kathrin Braun with dpa / afp (* Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA)