Did the disaster relief workers in the flooded areas issue adequate warnings?
What have the interior ministers of the federal states done?
Even if the focus is first on help, the questions will remain.
Koblenz / Berlin - The higher the death toll rises, the more probing the questions about possible omissions before the great flood disaster become.
And then whether someone in the affected federal states should bear the political responsibility for this.
"Everything that could come about under unfavorable circumstances came together in this small Ahr valley," said the Rhineland-Palatinate Interior Minister Roger Lewentz (SPD) on Thursday in a special session of three state parliament committees in Mainz.
"The situation is such an exception that the Federal Republic has not yet experienced." A completely new warning system is necessary for such situations.
"That was beyond anyone's imagination," said Mechthild Heil (CDU), member of the Bundestag, whose constituency is in Ahrweiler.
Many residents of the region are traumatized by the experiences of the past few days, "some of them had to watch people drown".
Lewentz drove to Ahrweiler himself on Wednesday last week during the heavy rain, where most of the dead later were to be mourned. He said he wanted to get an idea of the situation in the Eifel for himself. At the time, Lewentz also spoke to Jürgen Pföhler, District Administrator, who was responsible for disaster control in the district. Pföhler has so far not answered questions about warning the population about the floods, referring to the priority of his work in the crisis team.
The North Rhine-Westphalian Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU) said last Monday that the cities and districts had reacted well. He said: “I don't know of any cases where damage has occurred due to evacuation that was too late.” In many cases, a bigger problem was that people did not take warnings seriously and did not want to leave their home. On the question of whether the state government offered the affected municipalities on July 14 help in coping with the looming floods, the state government initially did not comment on Thursday.
In fact, the individual circles reacted very differently.
For example, the Rheinisch-Bergische Kreis issued a warning in the early evening of July 14th with the title “Massive risk of flooding due to dam breaches”.
The less badly affected Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate also called the disaster alarm in the evening.
The Ahrweiler district did not warn about the federal Nina app.
Instead, the district only asked citizens in the evening via the Katwarn app: "Avoid lower-lying parts of the building such as basements or underground garages".
"We will need patience to repair all this damage," said Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) in Berlin.
There is terrible devastation from the floods.
In some places sirens could be heard on Wednesday last week, but the noise level of the water masses was so high, according to fire fighters, that they were probably not noticed everywhere, said Lewentz.
And: “We all think that when the siren goes off, the fire brigade will be alerted.” The system still comes from the time of “simple window glazing” and must be adapted to the present.
In Düsseldorf, the state cabinet decided to provide 200 million euros in emergency aid for those affected by the flood disaster.
Prime Minister Armin Laschet (CDU) said the federal government had promised to double the sums of the state aid packages.
Applications could be made immediately.
There is emergency aid for four groups: private citizens, businesses, farmers and municipalities.
For affected households, there is emergency aid of up to 3500 euros in both of the affected federal states.
There will be no means, asset and detailed tests.
"We trust the citizens here that there is no abuse," said Laschet for NRW.
"It is crucial that the money now gets to people quickly."
"Potential insurance benefits are not initially checked," said the Prime Minister.
Of course, it is clear: “If someone receives a reimbursement from another party, they cannot apply for this money in addition.” For every facility damaged by storm, benefits in the amount of 5,000 euros could be called up.
A total of 65 million euros would be made available for the municipalities, said local minister Ina Scharrenbach (CDU).
Laschet assured: "We will raise as much money as is necessary."
At least 175 people were killed in the flood disaster - 128 in Rhineland-Palatinate, according to previous findings, 47 in North Rhine-Westphalia. More than 150 people were still missing on Thursday. dpa
